Age at First Marriage in Peninsular Malaysia

Examines the socioeconomic determinants of age at 1st marriage among ever married women aged 25 and above in 1974 who were enumerated in the 1974 World Fertility Survey in Peninsular Malaysia. Both interage and intraage components of the variation in age at 1st marriage are investigated within a causal structural framework employing standard path analysis and hierarchical analysis of covariance. There is a basic temporal increase in age at 1st marriage. Education ethnicity and premarital work duration appear to have the strongest impact on marriage postponement. Premarital occupational status and premarital work status have lesser effects while the seemingly moderate effect of childhood place of residence on the timing of matrimony is mostly explained by ethnicity and education. (authors)