The Effect of Religious Affiliations and Religiosity on Marriage Timing : The Case of Muslims in United Kingdom

The study tried to measure the effect of religious affiliations and religiosity on marriage timing of people in United Kingdom. Special Emphasis is being put on the Muslim people due to previous finding from 2001 census which found that Muslim people tend to marry earlier compared to other religious groups in United Kingdom. Since Majority of Muslims in United Kingdom is from South Asian descent, this issue is closely related to the issue of how immigrants in United Kingdom are adapting to the British culture. Understanding Society wave 1 data which contains sample boost on ethnic minorities was used in order to get more samples from Muslim people. Analysis of Survivor functions was used to measure the change in marriage timing over time while Cox proportional Hazard model was used to measure the effect of covariates on marriage timing. It is believed that the role of cultural and religious values are still very strong among Muslims in United Kingdom, which results in support toward practices and attitudes that facilitate early marriage for Muslim people in United Kingdom.

Keyword: Muslim, Marriage Timing, Immigrants, Cox Proportional Hazard Model, Religiosity