Changes in marital life cycle in Taiwan: 1976 and 1989.

"To improve...understanding of recent developments and thus gain a better appreciation of the likely future course of marital events, we apply a marital status life table model...to describe the differential risks for persons moving from one marital status to another over time.... The findings...point to the trends and patterns of marital formation, marital dissolution, and mortality experience of Taiwan in 1976 and 1989. The findings indicate declines in the proportion ever marrying and increases in the average age at marriage. The average duration of a marriage and the proportion of cohort life lived in [the] married state have been [declining]. The proportion of marriages ending in divorce has been rising steadily.... The level, however, is still relatively low by international standards." (SUMMARY IN CHI)