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Title: The Marriage Boom and Bust

Citation Type: Conference Paper

Publication Year: 2014

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Abstract: In the 1950s and 1960s there was an unprecedented marriage boom. In the 1970s the marriage boom was followed by a marriage bust. Some argue that both phenomena are cohort effects, while others argue that they are period effects. Using American census micro-data this study estimates an age-period-cohort model of first marriage in 1925-79 to test the major period and cohort theories of the marriage boom and bust. Although there were also cohort influences, the results of this study indicate that the marriage boom was mostly a period effect. More specifically, the hypothesis that the marriage boom was mostly a response to rising wages is shown to be consistent with the data. Unidentified cohort influences, however, account for much of the marriage bust, at least until 1980.

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Authors: Schellekens, Jona

Conference Name: Conference of the British Society for Population Studies

Publisher Location: Winchester

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Family and Marriage

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