Why Do Young Adults Retreat from Marriage? An Easterlin Relative Income Approach

Abstract: Easterlin's relative income hypothesis refers to the current income of young adults compared to the level of material aspirations acquired during childhood. The hypothesis implies that young individuals are expected to reduce fertility if their material aspirations grow at a higher rate than their incomes. This paper examines whether the same hypothesis holds true for marriage. A higher (lower) level of income combined with a lower (higher) level of material aspirations would increase (decrease) relative income and consequently could affect marriage rates. Thus, relative income might be one explanation for the "marriage paradox" which indicates that young adults in the United States retreat from marriage despite perceiving it as a milestone of their lives. One might also expect relative income to be a better predictor of marriage than absolute income. This is because, according to the Easterlin hypothesis, the behaviour of young adults reflects not only their response to changes in

Angaben zum Objekt

• Standort: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Umfang: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: Englisch
• Anmerkungen: Veröffentlichungsversion ; begutachtet (peer reviewed) ; In: Comparative Population Studies - Zeitschrift für Bevölkerungswissenschaft ; 47 (2022) ; 57-86

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wo): Mannheim
• (wer): SSOAR, GESIS – Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften e.V.
• (wann): 2022
• Urheber: Mavropoulos, Georgios ; Panagiōtidēs, Theodōros

Weitere Informationen

• DOI: 10.12765/CPoS-2022-03
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2022102511380269227515
• Rechteinformation: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 25.03.2025, 13:47 MEZ