Premarital socioeconomic roles and the timing of family formation: A comparative study of five Asian societies

The impact of female socioeconomic activities on cumulative fertility is a product of a series of life cycle stages, including the initiation of marriage and the timing of subsequent births. In the present paper, the effects of premarital socioeconomic roles on the first stages of family formation—the timing of marriage and the interval between marriage and first birth—are analyzed. Modern socioeconomic roles, especially educational attainment, lead to a postponement of marriage, and thereby age at first birth. However, the same variables tend to have a counterbalancing effect by reducing the interval from marriage to the first birth.