The Factors Associated with Marriage Interval to First Birth in Iran

This paper examines the factors associated with interval between marriage and first birth in Iran. Data were generated through in-depth interviews conducted with 30 married women aged 20-49 in Tehran. The result has shown that a short delay of entry into motherhood within the first three years of marriage has been common among women in their 20s who were born in the 1980s and thereafter. According to this study, delayed motherhood allows the women to reducing of costs of early marriage. In fact postponement of first birth is a compensatory strategy for women in Iran. This postponement has strong associations with marriage age, being a student and tendencies of women for higher education. The postponement also results from the fewer financial resources of young couple and their more valuation to family and children quality. However some indirect social control such as infertility stigma, social disapproval along with reducing continued interaction with extended family, restrict longer interval between marriage and first birth.
Keywords— first birth interval, marriage, motherhood, survival analysis, qualitative survey, Iran