[[Attitudes toward marriage and their effect on expected life course patterns of unmarried Japanese women]].

Abstract

"The aim of this paper is to study the perspectives unmarried women [in Japan] hold towards marriage, and towards their life course. This paper will also attempt to determine how changing life course perspectives among unmarried women are influencing the trend towards later marrying ages. [Data are from a] sample of 2,605 unmarried women aged 18-34 derived from the 9th National Fertility Survey conducted...in 1987....[The author finds that] while still planning to marry eventually, more women are putting off marriage. In conclusion, the increase in the proportion of unmarried women...is not so much because they have chosen the unmarried life course in order to pursue their careers, but rather merely because they are putting off marriage until later." (SUMMARY IN ENG)