A Reexamination of Socioeconomic Differences in Marriage in Japan

• In Event: 381 - Section on the Sociology of the Family Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 07. Marriage

Abstract

This study examines changing patterns of marriage in Japan. Our analyses examine educational differentials in marriage timing and patterns of assortative mating with respect to educational attainment. Using data from the 11th through 14th Japanese National Fertility Surveys (JNFS) conducted in 1997, 2002, 2005 and 2010, we update Raymo’s (2003) study of cohort educational differentials in marriage and Raymo and Iwasawa’s (2005) examination of assortative mating and marriage market mismatches. Results demonstrate that the strong negative educational gradient in marriage documented in earlier studies no longer characterizes Japanese marriages. The disappearance of educational differences in marriage reflect relative increases in the likelihood of marriage beyond age 30 for highly educated women and an increasing tendency for highly-educated women to marry men with less education than themselves. This pattern of change resembles the “shifting economic foundations of marriage” in the U.S. and our results provide an empirical basis for further exploration of the social correlates and implications of the newly emerging marriage patterns in Japan.

Authors

• Setsuya Fukuda, National Institute of Population and Social Security Research

• James M. Raymo, University of Wisconsin-Madison