The changing patterns of marriage and partnerships and their effects on fertility

Caste is an integral component of Indian society . Marriages within the same caste is the norm of the society. Marriages between castes is a difficult and socially unacceptable proposition. The major objectives of the present study are (a) to analyse the extent, pattern and spatial distribution of inter-caste marriages in India and (b) to understand and explore the socio-economic and cultural determinants of inter-caste marriages in India. The study uses the data of nationally representative National Family Health Survey-3(2005-06)) having a sample size of 43102 ever married women and their husbands. All the castes are grouped into three categories and arranged in descending order of caste hierarchy namely Others, OBC(Other Backward Class) and SC(Scheduled Caste). If a woman belonging to higher caste marries to a man belonging to lower caste, then it is considered as an inter-caste marriage and the vice versa is also true. It is found that about 10 percent of the total marriages in India are inter-caste which is quite encouraging and a positive sign of change in the society.

This research tries to examine the nature of two sets of changes, demographic and spatial, and searches for linkages between them, and the potential economic explanation behind. All of this will be related to the largest metropolitan areas of Mexico, and its comparison with the changes in the national context. First, it outlines the main features of the changing in population and demographic regime in Mexico and in the main cities, especially the first demographic transition, or the transit for high to low rates of mortality and fertility, and the so-called second demographic transition, or a more elderly population, and with a larger variety of household types. Secondly, it attempts to identify how recent demographic developments relate with two changes at intra-urban level: i) household types, or household segregation, and ii) residential choice, or the demand for housing. Thirdly, the family economic approach will be use for offering potential explanations to these demographic and spatial changes in the largest cities of Mexico.

Like most other countries in the Arab world, Oman is in the midst of social, economic and cultural transformations that are dramatic in pace and effect. Families are undergoing major changes as new patterns of marriage and family formation are emerging. This paper examines female marriage pattern and timing of marriage in Oman utilizing the 2000 National Health Survey data. One of the important aspects of the marriage pattern in Oman is the high prevalence of consanguineous marriage (52%). About 11% of the marriage are polygynous. The long tradition of early and universal marriage in Oman is gradually shifting to delayed but universal marriage. The change is apparent for more recent marriages or among younger cohorts of women and for certain sociocultural groups. Multivariate analysis identified female education, age cohort, place of residence, region of residence, types of marriage and employment as strong predictors of rising age at marriage in Oman. The growing bulge of the young adult people accompanied by delayed marriage may have serious demographic, social, economic and political ramifications for the country, highlighting the need to understand the new situation of youth, their characteristics, problems and demands.

The last several decades have seen a rise in female age at marriage in Asia. As age at marriage increases, prior research directs us to expect a shorter first marital birth interval. Empirical evidence largely bears this out. However, the relationship between increasing age at marriage and shorter first birth intervals is neither direct, monotonic, nor universal. The prevailing sociological explanation proffered for this relationship invokes coital frequency and hints at a link to features of the marriage regime beyond marriage timing alone. Yet, social mechanisms relating the marriage regime to marriage timing or the first birth interval remain inadequately specified. This study adds to this body of knowledge by examining the influence of multiple factors characterizing the marriage regime (hypergamy, endogamy, marital choice, premarital practices) and gender context on the timing of the first marital birth. It uses IHDS data, a nationally representative survey of Indian households with detailed variables on marriage practices, fertility, and gender relations. An additive series of regression models analyses whether the inclusion of marriage regime and gender norm variables alters the observed relationship between marriage timing and the first birth interval and explains the variation across regions and population subgroups.

Across Europe and the United States, an increasing proportion of births are to unmarried women. That said, many cohabiting relationships are translated to marriage after birth- even in settings where cohabitation is common, such as Norway. Most existing analyses either assume a one-way transition (i.e. marriage to birth), or that these processes are correlated. This analysis argues that in settings where birth triggers marriage, such a causal association cannot be captured by existing approaches. I employ a cross-lagged bivariate regression to model the two processes of union formation and birth incidence, to establish whether such a causal relationship exists, and how it varies across national contexts. Data for this analysis come from the Harmonized Histories, a comparable dataset encompassing the United and 15 countries in Europe, which include retrospective data on both partnership and fertility. Preliminary results indicate that in Norway, birth is indeed a trigger for marriage. In Italy, however, there is no significant effect of birth on union status; consistent with a traditional union formation pattern. In Bulgaria, while there is an initial effect of birth inducing marriage, this effect diminishes- indicating that birth will not trigger a transition to marriage in established cohabiting unions.

The intersection between partnership forms and fertility is increasingly complicated in the United States and European countries. This is due to increasing variety in partnership forms, diversity in fertility and changes in the way that these two processes interact. For example, in countries such as Norway, non-marital cohabitation, birth postponement and births to stable but non-marital partnerships are important, while in Italy, birth is largely restricted to marital relationships, which are universal albeit postponed. This paper uses Latent Class Growth models to evaluate the relationship between partnership and fertility and how this varies across the United States and 15 European countries. These models optimise a number of typical behaviours, and we examine how these are distributed across both birth cohort and national setting, to evaluate not only variations in behaviour, but also differences in how relationships have changed during the 20th century.

This paper examines the prevalence, trends and determinants of consanguineous marriages in Oman and analyses the effects of consanguinity on reproductive behaviour, pregnancy outcomes and offspring mortality, using data from the 2000 Oman National Health Survey (ONHS). Consanguineous marriages are highly prevalent in Oman (52%). First cousin unions are the most common type of consanguineous unions. Various patterns of consanguinity were observed, some of them are unique in nature. Women’s age at marriage, employment, place of childhood residence and geographical region appeared to be significant determinants of consanguineous marriages. Consanguinity shows a strong association with marital stability, early age at marriage and early childbearing. No appreciable change in the prevalence of consanguineous unions in Oman over the last four decades. However, recent marriage cohorts show slight declining trends. Consanguinity does play important role in determining some of the aspects of reproduction and health of new born, but did not show any detrimental effects on fertility and offspring mortality. The high level of consanguinity and its relevance to reproduction in Oman need to be considered in its public health strategy in a culturally accepted manner.

Using harmonised retrospective fertility and union histories from a set of nationally representative surveys from 14 European countries and the United States (the Harmonized Histories), I study how the influence of educational attainment on partnership and family formation transitions changes over the life course. Previous research is limited to either examining this influence for a very specific segment of the family life course or by only investigating single or competing transitions. By applying multistate event history models, I provide an innovative approach to understand the changing role of education over the family life course. This approach enables me to disentangle the influence of education on each and every partnership and family formation transition. As these influences come from the same model, they are directly comparable. This allows me to assess whether the influence of education changes over the family life course. I compare and contrast the results in a cross-national context for women born between 1950 and 1979.

The role of first marriage in population dynamics is significant, given the close link between nuptiality and demographic behavior. China’s first marriage pattern has undergone some transformations as the country experiences substantial socioeconomic restructuring over the past three decades. Constructing the nuptiality table as an analytical instrument, this paper establishes important measures that can serve as a multi-dimensional barometer with which one can explore and evaluate the new developments of China’s first marriage pattern. Our analysis reveals that China remains as a universal-marriage society despite a steady rise of the age at first marriage. However, a certain share of people is forced to remain single at their life time. Chinese men seem to not enjoy advantages over women in the processes of marital formation and sustainability, despite China is regarded as a male-dominant society. Furthermore, gender disparity in first marriages is reduced, though increasing gender inequality in China has been widely reported. Findings in this paper can serve as the departing point when further analyzing research and policy implications of new developments in the first marriage pattern.

Even in traditional societies where marriage among relatives is wide-spread, fertility is declining. So is the availability of eligible cousins. The custom of cousin marriage has so far persisted in the face of modernization, but cannot persist – at present levels and in present form – in the face of the demographic transition. We show through simulation, with comprehensive sensitivity analyses with respect to model specification, that current and projected fertility levels in Middle Eastern countries create challenging constraints on the custom once today's birth cohorts reach marriageable age. This is true both from the individual and the aggregate perspective. Either consanguinity prevalence will diminish, or the institution will be forced to adapt, at the expense of other social preferences (such as for an older groom wedding a younger bride). Accordingly, fertility decline affects prospects for social change not only through its well-known consequences for mothers, but also through shaping marriage conditions for the next generation.