title: Explaining first marriage trends in Australia.
abstract: "This paper presents new estimates of Australian first marriage trends since the 1920s and then focuses on the recent period.  Analysis of first marriage statistics shows that nuptiality decline actually began amongst the oldest potential marriers in the late 1960s, and then percolated down to the younger ages.  An attempt to explain recent trends through Becker's economic theory of marriage proves unsuccessful.  Nevertheless, time-series regression analyses indicate that over the last twenty years first marriage rates in Australia have followed major movements in economic factors, in particular employment status, and that neither normative change nor the economic rationality postulated by the economic theory of marriage needs to be invoked as the primary determinant of changing nuptiality."
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001315:Australia; D003710:Demography; D019049:Developed Countries; D004467:Economics; D008393:Marriage; D010139:Pacific Islands; D011153:Population; D011154:Population Characteristics
keywords: Age Factors; Australia; Demographic Factors; Developed Countries; Economic Conditions; Economic Factors; Macroeconomic Factors; Marriage; Marriage Age; Marriage Patterns; Nuptiality; Oceania; Population; Population Characteristics