CONTEXT The relationship of national laws that prohibit child marriage with the prevalence of child marriage and adolescent birth is not well understood. METHODS Data from Demographic and Health Surveys and from the Child Marriage Database created by the MACHEquity program at McGill University were used to examine the relationship between laws that consistently set the age for marriage for gi...

Since the 1990s, inter-provincial female migration for marriage has become important in central and eastern rural China. Using survey data from X County in rural Anhui Province, we explore the arrangement of inter-provincial marriages, as well as the characteristics of husbands and wives, marital satisfaction and marital stability for these marriages. We find that inter-provincial marriage is a...

This article explores the pattern of early marriage in Africa. It focuses on the sub-Saharan region as an area with the highest rates of early marriage in the world. The harmful effects of early marriage are explored in terms of impact on the health, education and economic well-being of young girls. The paper outlines a framework for analyzing global, regional and local initiatives to curb earl...

Are cohabiters different than married couples who cohabited before marriage? This study used the 2002 wave of the National Survey of Families and Households to determine how work behavior might differ for 4 relationship types: (a) cohabiters with uncertain marriage plans, (b) cohabiters with definite marriage plans, (c) premarital cohabiters who recently married, and (d) premarital cohabiters m...

This article argues that marriage has undergone a process of deinstitutionalization—a weakening of the social norms that define partners’ behavior—over the past few decades. Examples are presented involving the increasing number and complexity of cohabiting unions and the emergence of same-sex marriage. Two transitions in the meaning of marriage that occurred in the United States during the 20t...

This paper discusses the interest in and politics surrounding government's using welfare reform legislation to carve out a stronger role in promoting marriage. It examines trends in family formation, their impact on society, and the effect of single parenting, divorce, and step-parenting on child well-being. The paper also looks at the treatment of marriage in current government programs, new s...

This paper investigates how the control and devolution of productive assets are allocated among husband and wife. Theory predicts that bargaining power within marriage depends on the division of assets upon divorce (exit option) and on control over assets during marriage (noncooperative marriage). In empirical applications, bargaining power is typically proxied by variables such as dowry paymen...

The Dynamics of Marriage and Divorce We formulate and estimate a dynamic model of marriage, divorce, and remarriage using 27 years of panel data for the entire Danish cohort born in 1960. The marital surplus is identified from the probability of divorce, and the surplus shares of husbands and wives from their willingness to enter marriage. Education and marriage order are complements in generat...

There is extensive evidence that married people are, on average, healthier than their unmarried counterparts. It is unclear how much this positive correlation can be explained by the selection of healthier people into marriage. In this paper, I estimate the effect of marriage relative to cohabitation on health and disability. I control for selection into marriage by instrumenting marital status...

PURPOSE The study was conducted to assess the marital status and fertility in adults with epilepsy. METHODS The study group consisted of 240 subjects with epilepsy aged 15 and above, Unmarried males (m) 55, unmarried females (f) 73 and married males 48, married females 64. Data was collected according to standard protocol regarding age, sex, age at marriage and onset of seizure, effect of epi...