Educational Stratification of Marriage Entry under Different Political and Economic Regimes: Evidence from the Czech Republic during the Second Half of the 20th Century

KREIDL, Martin. Educational Stratification of Marriage Entry under Different Political and Economic Regimes: Evidence from the Czech Republic during the Second Half of the 20th Century. Population Review. 2012, vol. 51, No 2, p. 151-178. ISSN 1549-0955.

Basic information

• Original name: Educational Stratification of Marriage Entry under Different Political and Economic Regimes: Evidence from the Czech Republic during the Second Half of the 20th Century
• Authors: KREIDL, Martin (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution).
• Edition: Population Review, 2012, 1549-0955.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Article in a journal
• Field of Study: 50000 5. Social Sciences
• Country of publisher: United States of America
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: URL
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14230/12:00080560
• Organization unit: Faculty of Social Studies
• Keywords in English: Marriage;population change;second demographic transition;Czech Republic;post-socialism
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

This paper examines changes in the effect of education on respondents’ odds of entering marriage in the Czech Republic in the second half of the 20th century. The paper evaluates two competing theoretical perspectives aiming at explaining post-socialist population change: the economic crisis argument and the second demographic transition theory. Using discrete-time event-history models to predict entry into first marriage, the analysis reveals that educational stratification of marital behavior increased in the post-socialist period among women, and most probably also among men: the least educated individuals postponed and avoided marriage to a greater degree than better qualified respondents, which supports the notion that post-socialist population change responded to structural economic forces. Yet, a detailed comparison of the timing of change in marital behavior across education groups suggests that ideational change (and perceived opportunity cost of early marriage) also played a role in the post-socialist demographic change.

Links

• GAP404/11/0130, research and development project: Name: Struktura rodiny a stratifikační proces: vysvětlují trend změny ve vnitrorodinných procesech, kompoziční změny anebo samo-výběr?

Investor: Czech Science Foundation, Family structure and the stratification process: Do compositional effects, changes in intra-family processes, or selection bias explain the trend?