Does marriage require a stronger economic underpinning than informal cohabitation?
Population Studies, 5, 63-80. This article comments on the economic and social reasons for young Norwegian couples’ tendencies toward cohabitation instead of marriage. Data was culled from the Norwegian Family and Occupation Survey which collected information on pregnancy, marital and nonmarital unions, education, and employment for a sample of 4,019 women and 1,543 men. No further demographic data is included. Data was also taken from the Statistics Norway Omnibus Surveys of May and October 1996 (SNOS) which collected information on men’s and women’s marriage intentions and their reasons for delaying marriage. The study found that women’s cumulative income, rather than the income earned over the past year, had a positive association with women’s transition to marriage. The higher educational level of men with children increased marriage rates, while college enrollment reduced women’s marriage rates. Unemployed, lower educated men were less likely to make the transition to marriage; th
