Volume 37 - Article 36 | Pages 1231–1244  

Entry into first marriage in China

By Li Ma, Ester Rizzi

Abstract

Background: China has experienced substantial socioeconomic and institutional changes over the past few decades. The literature has documented a variety of demographic changes during this time, including the delay and decline of marriage and the recent prevalence of cohabitation. However, we have little knowledge about how the Chinese enter into marriage.

Objective: This study demonstrates the diversification of first marriage entry over time.

Methods: We applied event-history analysis to longitudinal data from the China Family Panel Studies (2010–2012 waves) and estimated the competing risks of the identified marriage entry types. The observation covered the period from 1960 to 2012.

Results: Our estimations from the competing models demonstrated four notable types of first marriage entry, including a general decline in the traditional ‘direct marriage,’ a rise and decline in ‘conception marriage,’ and two recently increasing innovative practices of ‘cohabitation marriage’ and ‘cohabitation and conception marriage.’ The 1980s marked a turning point when traditional family practices began to decay and innovative family practices began to emerge and spread.

Conclusions: The diversification of marriage entry in China since the 1980s occurred in tandem with the development of China’s economic reform and ‘opening-up’ policies. This simultaneity exemplifies the notion that socioeconomic changes at the macro level interact with family behavior changes at the individual level.

Contribution: This study demonstrates an increasingly wide array of marriage entry types over time, reflecting the evolution of marriage behaviors from tradition to modernity in contemporary Chinese society.

Author's Affiliation

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

Childlessness, sex composition of children, and divorce risks in China
Volume 41 - Article 26

The spatial diffusion of nonmarital cohabitation in Belgium over 25 years: Geographic proximity and urban hierarchy
Volume 43 - Article 48

Does it take a village to raise a child?: The buffering effect of relationships with relatives for parental life satisfaction
Volume 34 - Article 34

Economic crisis and women’s labor force return after childbirth: Evidence from South Korea
Volume 31 - Article 18

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

Ultra-Orthodox fertility and marriage in the United States: Evidence from the American Community Survey
Volume 49 - Article 29    | Keywords: age at first marriage, American Community Survey (ACS), fertility, Judaism, marriage, religion, total fertility rate (TFR), Ultra-Orthodox Judaism

Moving towards gender equality in China: The influence of migration experiences on rural migrants’ gender role attitudes
Volume 49 - Article 14    | Keywords: China, culture, gender attitudes, gender roles, rural-urban migration

Subnational variations in births and marriages during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea
Volume 48 - Article 30    | Keywords: COVID-19, fertility, Korea, marriage

Adult children’s union type and contact with mothers: A replication
Volume 48 - Article 23    | Keywords: cohabitation, intergenerational contacts, marriage

Family inequality: On the changing educational gradient of family patterns in Western Germany
Volume 48 - Article 20    | Keywords: census data, descriptive analysis, divorce, educational inequality, family, Germany, marriage, partnership, time, trends

Cited References: 17

Download to Citation Manager

Volume
Page
Volume
Article ID