Does the level of education affect the age at which women get married?
This study will determine the affect of a woman’s level of education (EDUCATION) on a woman’s median age at first marriage (AGE_MARRIAGE) while holding constant the affects of a women’s living situation (RESIDENCE), men’s median age at marriage (M_AGE), and women’s median income (INCOME).
The dependent variable AGE_MARRIAGE is determined by independent variables EDUCATION, RESIDENCE, M_AGE, and INCOME.
The most important independent variable in this relationship is EDUCATION because I believe that a woman’s increased level of education directly affects when they get married.
Definition of Variables
The general form of the model is:
Y = X1 + X2 + X3 + X4
Therefore, the model including the variables is:
AGE_MARRIAGE = EDUCATION + RESIDENCE + M_AGE + INCOME
AGE_MARRIAGE (Y): This is the dependent variable. I want to determine what has an affect on the age at which woman get married. The independent variables are used to determine which has a significant affect on marriage.
EDUCATION (X1): This is the primary independent variable because I believe that as a person’s level of education increases, so will the age at which marriages occur. By being more educated they are more mature and stable, so a person will be more likely to get married after they finish their education. In this case education is defined as having a Bachelor’s degree.
The level of education that a woman obtains has been correlated with the delay of marriage to pursue her own life. An article by USA Today, which based there findings on statistics from the US Census Bureau, found at http://www.usatoday.com/news/health
/2008-11-09-delayed-marriage_N.htm, stated that people are holding off getting married because of education and pursuing careers. Specifically saying “Others are also holding off while maintaining a single-but-together status that
Cited: Marriage and First Birth in Pakistan. February 2001. Retrieved from http://rspas.anu.edu.au/papers/asarc/gangadharan_maitra.pdf on April 1, 2009. USA Today. Sooner vs. later: Is there an ideal age for first marriage? Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-11-09-delayed-marriage_N.htm on March 31, 2009. 2005. Retrieved from www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2008/tables/08s0292.xls on April 17, 2009. USA Today. Sooner vs. later: Is there an ideal age for first marriage? Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-11-09-delayed-marriage_N.htm on March 31, 2009. www.census.gov/population/socdemo/hh-fam/hh1.xls on March 31. 2009. to the Present. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/hh-fam/tabMS-2.pdf on March 31, 2009. Sex: 1947 to 2007. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/histinc/p03.html on March 31, 2009.