To what extent premarital liaisons are responsible for delay at marriage among educated men and women in Tehran

This paper aims to assess the relations between experience of premarital heterosexual liaisons and marital timing and identify the effect of experience of various premarital heterosexual intimacy on elevated age at first marriage among young educated men and women in Tehran. This paper is based on the quantitative part of a cross sectional mix method study which designed to assess the influence of premarital heterosexual liaisons on marriage, divorce and marital satisfaction. 2031 university students aged 18-40 from among 7 universities (both public and private) in Tehran were selected, using two stage stratified cluster sampling. Data collection was completed between January 2010 and May 2011. The survey instrument was an anonymous self-administered questionnaire. The mean age of college students was 22.5, 12% of college students were married. The mean age of marriage among those who reported experience of more than 3 premarital heterosexual liaisons was significantly greater than those who reported fewer premarital heterosexual relationships (24.5 Vs. 22.7, P<0.05). In addition, mean age at marriage among young people who reported premarital sexual relationships was significantly greater than those who did not report such relations (24.9 vs. 5.22, P<0.001).