Age at first marriage, education and divorce: the case of the U.S.A..

Abstract

"This paper presents an analysis of the determinants of the age of marriage and the probability of divorce among women in the United States." The author hypothesizes that the possibility of divorce enters into women's decision to marry. "As expected, empirical results indicate that in the United States, where it is easier to obtain divorce, women tend to marry earlier. Furthermore, Catholic women tend to marry later....Results seem to indicate the age at marriage and education should not be considered to be exogenous in the study of the probability of divorce. Another important result is that women who marry earlier...show a lower probability of divorce...."