Volume 12 - Article 1 | Pages 1–28  

The effect of education on the timing of marriage in Kenya

By Lawrence Ikamari

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of education on the timing of marriage among Kenyan women and the relative effects of education across generations of women. Data used is drawn from the 1998 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey. The Cox proportional hazard model and linear regression analysis are used to analyse the data. The results show that education has a statistically significant and strong positive effect on a woman’s age at first marriage; the effect remaining robust in the presence of a number of controls.
The highly educated women are more likely to delay marriage. Significant variations in the effect of education across the generations of women are apparent. The effect is greater for the younger women, indicating increased postponement of marriage. Premarital sexual activity, premarital childbearing, region of residence, religion and year of birth are also significantly associated with age at first marriage.

Author’s Affiliation

• Lawrence Ikamari - University of Nairobi, Kenya EMAIL

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

The partnership context of first parenthood – and how it varies by parental class and birth cohort in the United Kingdom
Volume 53 - Article 16    | Keywords: cohabitation, cohort analysis, event history, event history analysis, family formation, intergenerational inequality, marriage, parental socio-economic status, parenthood, single parenthood, United Kingdom

Gendered labor market adjustments around marital and cohabiting union transitions during Europe’s early cohabitation diffusion
Volume 53 - Article 15    | Keywords: adult equivalent household income, cohabitation, employment income, gender inequalities, hours worked, intra-household specialization, marriage, union transitions

Where do we go from here? Partnership-parenthood trajectories of cohabitation as first union during young adulthood in the United States
Volume 53 - Article 9    | Keywords: cohabitation, family inequality, fertility, marriage, race/ethnicity, transition to adulthood, union formation, United States of America

Education, religion, and male fertility in sub-Saharan Africa: A descriptive analysis
Volume 53 - Article 8    | Keywords: education, male fertility, polygyny, religion, sub-Saharan Africa

Examining the relationships between education, coresidential unions, and the fertility gap by simulating the reproductive life courses of Dutch women
Volume 52 - Article 24    | Keywords: contraception, education, fertility, GGS, life course, LISS, microsimulation, Netherlands, physiology, unions