The Variability of Age at First Marriage in the United States

The Variability of Age at First Marriage in the United States | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article The Variability of Age at First Marriage in the United States Hao-Chun Cheng, Philip N. Cohen This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7538029/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This study examines the variability of age at first marriage across birth cohorts, genders, education levels, and races/ethnicities. The argument for the deinstitutionalization of formal marriage suggests that formal marriage has become more individualized over the past few decades, and people have more autonomy in deciding the timing of their first marriage as the cultural conformity pertaining to marriage as an institution decline. This may contribute to a growing variability of age at first marriage in recent cohorts. However, as the process of deinstitutionalization differs across genders, education levels, and races/ethnicities, the changes in cultural conformity regarding formal marriage may also differ, leading to divergent changes in the variability of age at first marriage among these social groups. Using the 2008–2023 American Community Survey (ACS) data (n = 13,737,325) and OLS regression models, our results show a U-shaped trend over cohorts: the variability was least diverse among cohorts born between 1925 and 1949. In addition, we find an interaction effect of gender and race/ethnicity. Further, highly educated people tend to have less variability in marriage age than those with less education. This study contributes to our understanding of the heterogeneous changes in cultural conformity regarding the timing of first marriage and the deinstitutionalization of formal marriage in the United States. Variability of age at first marriage deinstitutionalization of formal marriage cultural conformity United States Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files DraftVariabilityofageatfirstmarriageAppendixforPRPR.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7538029","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":510880734,"identity":"25f420fc-fb8b-4edd-8dc2-c8243da42768","order_by":0,"name":"Hao-Chun Cheng","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA+klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACAwYGNhAtB+GyHYAKEqHFGE1LAmEtiQ1EazFnP/zswccdtenzw44/YC4ou5PYwN68TYLxx2GcWix70swNZ545nrvxdo4B84xzzxIbeI6VSTAk4NZicCCHTZq37Vjuxtk5DMy8bYcTGyRyzIBabuPWcv4Nm/TftmPphrPTH0C0yL8hoOUG0BbGtpoEeekEA6gtPIS0PDOT7G07YLhBOsfgMM+5w8ZtPGnFFglp//E4LPmZxM+2Onn52ekPH/OUHZbtZz+88cYHmzScWqDgMDAcGBgOgJjgaEogpIGBoY5BvoGwqlEwCkbBKBihAABRb1iAiMDVFgAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"National Dong Hwa University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hao-Chun","middleName":"","lastName":"Cheng","suffix":""},{"id":510880736,"identity":"8b63c953-5c31-4535-b7fa-5e0a66c9d5fe","order_by":1,"name":"Philip N. 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