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Age
at
First
Marriage
in
Peninsular
Malaysia*
BARBARA
VON
ELM
International
Center
fo r
Research
on
Women**
CHARLES
HIRSCHMAN
Duke
University***
The
average
age
at
marriage
among
women in
Peninsular Malaysia
has
risen dra-
matically
from
18.5
years
in
1947
to 22.3
years
in
1970 (based
on
census
data
calcula-
tions
of
the
singulate
mean
age
at
marriage ).
This
paper
examines
the
socioeco-
nomic
determinants
of
the
average
age
at
first
marriage
among
women
age
25-44
in
1966-1967
who
were interviewed
in
a
cross-sectional fertility
survey
of
currently
mar-
ried
women
in
Peninsular
Malaysia.
Substantial
differentials
in
age
at
first
marriage
are
associated with
ethnicity,
years
of
formal
schooling,
and
premarital
work
ex-
perience,
while
lesser
differences
are observed
/or
social
and
geographic
origins.
Ethnic
differences
in
age
at
first
marriage
remain
wide even
after
statistically
con-
trolling,fvr
other
socioeconomic background
variables.
A
life-cycle
model
of
the
ef -
fects
of
social background
variables
on
age
at
first
marriage
is estimated using
dum-
my
variable
regression
analysis.
Post-primary
schooling
and
working
before
mar-
riage
are the
strongest
variables
that
delay
age
at
first
marriage.
These
patterns
are
common
to
al l ethnic
communities.
As more
women
participate
in
higher
education
and
in
employment,
age
at
first
marriage
will probably
be
further
delayed.
There are
relatively
few
empirical generaliza-
tions
about
the
social and economic
determi-
nants of
age
at
marriage.
It
is
generally
be-
lieved
that
rural
tradition
fosters
early
mar-
riage,
while
urbanization
and
other
forces
of
modernization
lead to
marriage
postpone-
ment.
Extant data,
however, have not
always
shown
this to
be
true.
The
most
obvious
anomaly
is
the
Western European
marriage
pattern,
which indicates
that
prior
to the
In-
dustrial
Revolution,
women commonly
mar-
ried in
their mid-
to late twenties (Gaskin,
1978;
Hajnal,
1965). Furthermore, there
is
We thank
the
National
Family Planning
Board
of
Malaysia
and the
Department
of Statistics of
Malaysia
for
permission
to
us e
the 1966-1967 West
Malaysian
Family Survey
data.
Professor
James
Palmore
kindly
provided
a
copy
of
the data
tape
and made constructive
comments on an earlier
draft of this
paper.
We
also
thank
Teresa
Dark
for
typing
the
paper.
International Center for Research
on
Women, 1010
16th
Street, N.W.,
Washington,
D.C. 20036.
Department
of
Sociology,
Duke
University,
Dur-
ham, North
Carolina
27706.
little
evidence
which
shows
homogeneity
in
the
patterns
or
trends
in
the
timing
of
nup-
tiality
among
less developed
non-Western
societies.
As Dixon
(1971)
and
others (Mitchell,
1971;
Lesthaeghe,
1974;
Salaff,
1976)
have
noted, there
are a
variety
of
institutional
fac-
tors, both at the societal
and
familial level,
that influence
marital
patterns.
Among
such
factors
are
the relative
numbers
of
eligible
single
men and women
at
the
appropriate
ages,
the familial structure in
which
young
couples
may
be
supported
through
the
ex-
tended household,
and the relative
status of
single
women,
including
their
opportunities
for
higher
education and
paid
employment.
While
these factors are
undoubtedly
impor-
tant,
the
specification
of
the
key
determi-
nants
in
any
single
society
may vary
consider-
ably.
Moreover,
factors
which
may
be
im -
portant
at a
single
point
in time
may
not
be
those
which account
for
trends
over
a
period
of time.
A
brief look
at
variations
in
age
at
first
marriage
and
in
the
proportions
marry-
ing
in
younger age groups
within
the
same
November 1979
JOURNAL
OF
MARRIAGE
AND
THE FAMILY
877
Vol 41(November):877-891.
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region
shows the tremendous diversity
that
needs
to
be
explained.
In
recent
decades there
has been
a
general
rise
in the
average
age
at first
marriage
in
Asia,
though
the
initial
age
levels and rate
of
change
have
varied
considerably
from
country
to
country.
Table
1 presents
the
pro-
portions
of
women who
first married at
ages
15-19
and
20-24, as
well
as
the
singulate
mean
age
at
marriage
(for
discussion
of
the
singulate
mean
age
at
marriage
and
method of
computation,
see
Hajnal,
1953;
Shryock,
and
Seigel,
1973:295)
for
selected
Asian countries.
The most notable
observa-
tion
is that
early marriage
(under 20
years)
has
not
been
a universal
norm
in
any
of
these
countries,
during
this
century
at
least.
For ex-
ample,
the
singulate
mean
age
at first
mar-
riage
was 18
years
in
Sri
Lanka
in
1901
and
in
Peninsular
Malaysia
in
1947;
even
then
only
one-half
of
the
women
aged
15-19
were
mar-
ried
in these
countries
at
these dates.
In
the
Philippines
and
Thailand,
where
generally
less
than
20
percent
of the women
were
mar-
ried
in their
teenage
years,
there
have
been
only
modest
upward
trends in
the
average
age
at
first
marriage
since
the
late
1940s.
In
contrast,
the
declines
in
the
proportions
married
among
young
women
in Sri
Lanka,
Taiwan, and
Malaysia
have been
substantial
in
recent
years.
The current situation
in these
countries,
with
85
to
90
percent
of
the
15-19
year
old
women and
about 50
percent
of
the
20-24
year
old women still
single,
is
fairly
comparable
to
contemporary
Western
levels
of
nuptiality.
Of
course, these
Asian
coun-
tries are
not
necessarily representative
of
al l
less-developed
areas.
In
many
other
Third
World
countries,
very
young marriage
re-
mains all
but
universal.
However,
these data
do
suggest
that there is
considerable
variation
in
the
levels
and
trends
in
age
at
first mar-
riage
in
several
Asian
countries,
irrespective
of
socioecpnomic
development.
Since there
is
no
certitude
about
the
com-
parative
patterns
of
age
at
first
marriage,
nor
of
the
key
determinants
which affect
nup-
tiality
trends
and
transitions,
a
basic
strategy
for
more intensive research is needed.
The
recent
studies of Coale (1971) and
Dixon
TABLE
1.
TRENDS IN
PERCENTAGES
MARRIED
AND
MEAN
AGE
AT
FIRST
MARRIAGE OF WOMEN
FOR
SELECTED
ASIAN
COUNTRIES__________________
Philippines
(Ever-Married)
1903
1939
1948
1960
1970
Sri
Lanka
(Ever-Married)
1901
1946
1953
1963
1971
Thailand
(Currently
Married)
1947
1960
1970
Taiwan
(Currently Married)
1961
1974
Peninsular
Malaysia
(Ever-Married)
1947
1957
1970
Percent
Ages
15-19
26.4
19.7
14.9
12.7
10.8
51.9
24.7
24.3
15.0
10.5
17.9
12.5
17.5
12.5
5.9
42.2
37.0
16.1
Marrieda
Ages 20-24
66.7
63.8
59:3
55.7
49.7
79.0
70.6
67.5
58.7
46.9
64.2
56.4
57.9
60.9
44.4
86.7
78.6
57:0:
Singulate Mean
Age
at
First
Marriage
20.9
21.9
22.1
22.3
22.8
18.1
20.7
20.9
22.1
23.5
21.1
21.6
21.9
18.5
19.4
22.3
^n
two
countries,
data on
currently
married,
rather
than
ever-married,
are
presented.
At
young
ages,
differ-
ences
between
currently
married
and
ever-married
are
neghgible.
Sources:
Concepi6n and
Smith, 1977:20;
Fernando,
1975:185; Arnold
et at.,
1977:8-9;
Freedman
et al
1977:13;
Hirschman
and
Fernandez,
1978.
878
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(1971) are instructive
in
the
measurement
of
nuptiality patterns
and in
the
basic
theoreti-
cal
expectations
for
comparative
research
with
aggregate
data.
In
this
paper,
a
some-
what
different
approach
is taken.
We
formu-
late
and test a
model
of
the
determinants
of
age
at
first
marriage
in
Peninsular
Malaysia.
Using
individual
level data from the 1966-
1967
West Malaysian Family
Survey
(Na-
tional
Family
Planning
Board,
1968),
a
na-
tional
survey
of
currently
married
women, it
is
possible
to measure the
impact
of social
origins,
residence,
education,
and
premarital
work
experience
on the
age
at
which women
marry.
Because
Malaysia
is
a
plural
society
with
three
distinct ethnic
groups,
we are
able
to
study
the
variations
in
age
at first
mar-
riage among
these
communities
within
a
single
analytical
framework. Such
an
intra-
societal
type
of
analysis might
well
provide
an
alternative
model
of research
that
could
be
extended
to
other societies in
future
com-
parative
research.
PENINSULAR
MALAYSIA
Formerly
known as
Malaya
and West Ma-
laysia,
Peninsular
Malaysia
is
part
of
the na-
tion
of
Malaysia.
Malaysia
was
formed
in
1963
with
the union of
Malaya
(which
had
been an
independent
nation
since
1957),
and
two former British colonies on
Borneo-
Sabah and Sarawak. Singapore was
briefly
part
of
Malaysia
from
1963
to
1965.
While
geographically large,
Sabah
and Sarawak are
sparsely
populated,
and Peninsular
Malay-
sias
population
of 8.8
million
comprised
almost 85
percent
of
the
population
of
the
en-
tire
country
in 1970
(Department
of Statis-
tics, 1977:269). Because of data limitations,
only
Peninsular
Malaysia
is included
in
our
study.
With
the
exception
ofthe
city-state
of
Sing-
apore,
Malaysia
is
the
most
affluent nation in
Southeast
Asia,
measured in
conventional
GNP
terms
(World Bank,
1976:498).
This
relative
prosperity
rests
in
part
on
the
export
of
primary
products,
rubber, tin and
oil
palm.
but
also on
growing
industrial
and
commercial
sectors.
In
terms of
population,
the most salient
characteristic of
Malaysia
is
her
plural
or
multi-ethnic
composition.
Slightly
over one-
half
of
the
population
is
composed
of
Malays,
over
one-third
is
of Chinese descent,
and
ap-
proximately
one-tenth
is
of Indian
origin.
The Chinese and
Indian
populations
(and a
share
of
Malays
as well)
are the descendants
of
immigrants
who
arrived
in
the late 19th
and
early
20th centuries. In
spite
of the
fact
that
the
majority
of Chinese
and Indians are
second
or
third
generation
Malaysians,
there
has
been
relatively
little
socioeconomic
and
cultural
assimilation
among
the
ethnic
com-
munities (Hirschman,
1975).
In
general,
the
Chinese
are
the
most
urbanized
group
and
have
a
more
diversified
occupational
struc-
ture than do
either the
Indian
or
Malay
com-
munities. On
most
measures of socioeco-
nomic
levels,
Indians rank between
the Chi-
nese and
Malay
populations.
In
short,
these
three
ethnic communities, with
their
differing
cultural and
socioeconomic
characteristics,
provide
a
unique
opportunity
for a
compara-
tive
analysis
of
marriage
patterns
within the
context
of one
country.
TRENDS
IN AGE
AT
FIRST
MARRIAGE
IN
PENINSULAR
MALAYSIA
The 1966-1967 West
Malaysian Family
Survey
(National
Family
Planning
Board,
1968),
the
primary
data source
for
this
study,
is one
of
the
few
Malaysian
surveys
with
a
direct measure of
age
at
first
marriage
for a
representative
sample
of
women.
However,
the 1947, 1957,
and
1970
censuses
do
pro-
vide us
with
an
indirect
measure of
age
at
first
marriage,
since they
have
information
on
the
percentages
of
ever-married
women
by age
for
each
major
ethnic
group
(see Table
2) .
These
data
also allow
for
the
estimation
of
the
singulate
mean
age
at
marriage
figures
(Hajnal,
1953;
Shryock
and
Seigel,
1973:
295).
The
singulate
mean
age
at
marriage
is
simply
a cross-sectional
summary
measure
of
the
percentages
of
the
population
married
in
each
age-group
for
a
particular
year.
From
1947
to
1957,
there
was
only
a
modest trend
towards later
age
at
marriage
among
Malays
and
Indians (.5 of a
year
or
less
increase
in
the
singulate
mean
age
at
first
marriage),
but
there
was
a
significant
change
of
1.6
years
among
young
Chinese women.
Age
at
first
marriage
had
always
been some-
what later
among
the
Chinese
than
among
the
Malays
or
Indians. For
instance, less than
one-out-of-five
Chinese women
aged
15-19
was
married
in
1947,
while
more than
one-
half
of
the
Malays
and
Indians
in this
age
November
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TABLE
2.
PERCENTAGE
OF
WOMEN
EVER-MARRIED
BY
AGE
GROUP
AND SINGULATE
MEAN
AGE
AT
FIRST
MARRIAGE,
BY
ETHNIC COMMUNITY:
PENINSULAR
MALAYSIA, 1947,1957,
AND
1970
Years
15-19
20-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-49
(15-49)
Mean Age
at
15-19
20-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-49
(15-49)
Mean
Age
at
Sources:
of
Statistics,
1947
42.2
86.7
96.1
97.6
96.5
97.8
97.5
(84.7)
First
Marriage
18.5
17.6
73.9
92.1
95.8
96.7
96.4
96.3
(76.3)
First
Marriage
20.5
Del
Tufo,
1949:204-259; Depa
Malaysia,
1977:355-359.
1957
Total
37.0
78.6
94.4
97.9
98.5
98.5
98.6
(80.6)
19.4
Chinese
10.3
56.8
88.6
96.2
97.3
97.4
97.5
(68.3)
22.1
rtment of
Stat
1970
16.1
57.0
86.2
94.4
96.7
98.1
98.7
(67.5)
22.3
6.0
40.3
78.6
90.5
94.3
96.6
97.6
(59.0)
24.2
istics.
Federation
1947
59.2
93.4
97.9
98.7
95.9
98.9
98.6
(89.8)
17.4
52.3
93.1
98.2
98.8
99.0
98.6
98.4
(89.2)
17.6
of
Malaya.
1957
Malay
54.1
90.6
97.6
98.8
99.2
99.4
99.4
(87.6)
17.9
Indian
53.2
90.6
97.5
98.9
99.5
99.5
99.4
(88.1)
17.9
1960:72-76;
Department
1970
22.7
67.6
91.3
96.7
98.1
98.9
99.3
(73.1)
21.1.
17.0
63.0
88.3
96.1
97.9
98.6
99.0
(67.7)
21.7
group
were married.
These
ethnic
differences
further
widened by
1957,
when the
mean
age
at
first
marriage
for
Chinese
women
rose
to
22.1,
while it
remained
below
18
years
for
Malay
and
Indian
women.
However,
the
1957 to
1970
period
was
one
of
declines
in
proportions
married
among
all
ethnic
communities.
While
the
mean
age
at
first
marriage
rose
more than
two
years
for
Chinese
women
(t o 24.2 in
1970),
it
increased
3.2
years
for
Malays
and
almost
four
years
for
Indians.
About
80
percent
of all
teenage
(15-19 years)
Malay
and
Indian
women
and
a
third
of
those
in
their
early
twenties
(ages
20-24)
were still
single
in
1970.
While
the
pro-
portions
of
single
Malay
and
Indian
women
were
still
considerably
less than the
prevailing
Chinese
levels, the
gap
had narrowed
con-
siderably.
This dramatic
increase
in
age
at first
mar-
riage
in Malaysia
has
been
a
key
element in
the
recent
reduction
of
fertility
in
Malaysia
(Hirschman
and
Femandez,
1978). It
would
be of
considerable
interest
to
understand the
social
and
economic determinants
of this
nuptiality
transition.
However,
the
cross-
sectional
survey
data
available
for
this
study
do
not
really
allow
for
an
analysis
of
change.
But it does
provide
some
assessment
of the
main
factors that
are associated
with
age
at
first
marriage
differentials
between
and with-
in
ethnic
communities.
THE
1966-1967
WEST
MALAYSIAN
FAMILY
SURVEY
Prior to the
launching
of
its
program
activi-
ties, the
National
Family
Planning
Board
of
Malaysia,
with
technical
assistance
from the
Population
Studies
Center
of
the University
of
Michigan
and
the Malaysian
Department
of
Statistics,
conducted
a
benchmark survey
(1966-1967
West
Malaysian
Family
Survey)
of
fertility
and family planning
attitudes
and
behavior
among
Malaysian
married
women.
Our
study
is
a
secondary
analysis
of
these
sur-
vey
data,
which
had
a
sample
of 5,457
cur-
rently
married
women between
the
ages
of
15
and
44.
While the
sample
was stratified
to
overrepresent
the
largest
cities,
it
can be
weighted
to
provide
a
representative
national
sample,
as
is done
in
this
study.
(For
addi-
tional
details
on the
survey
methods
and
sam-
pling
procedures,
see
the
published
report
by
the National
Family Planning
Board,
1968.)
The
survey
has
also
been
the
source
of
a
num-
ber
of
analyses
of
Malaysian
fertility
and
other
studies
(Palmore,
1969;
Palmore
and
Ariffin,
1969;
Palmore, Klein,
and
Ariffin,
1970;
Palmore,
Hirsch,
and
Ariffin,
1971;
Hirschman,
1975).
One
question
asked
in
the
1966-1967
West
Malaysian
Family Survey
was
age
at
first
marriage,
which
we use
as our
dependent
variable
in
this
study.
A
variety
of
social background
variables
was
also collec-
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TABLE
3.
MEAN
AGE AT
FIRST
MARRIAGE, PERCENTAGE MARRIED
BEFORE
AGE
18,
AND
PERCENTAGE MARRIED AT AGE
21
OR
LATER
OF
CURRENTLY
MARRIED
WOMEN, AGE
25-34 AND
35-44
IN
1966-1967
BY
SELECTED
BACKGROUND CHARACTERISTICS: PENINSULAR
MALAYSIA,
1966-1967
Ethnic
Community
Malay
Chinese
Indian
Fathers
Occupation
Agricultural
Blue
Collar
White
Collar
Longest
Place
of
Residence
Before
Marriage
Rural
Small Town
Town
or
City
Years
of
Schooling
None
1-3
4-5
6
7-8
9
or
more
Premarital
Work
Experience
None
Work
Only
at
Home
Work
Outside
Home
Total
Sample
of
Currently
Married Women
Mean
25-34
16.2
20.8
17.6
16.6
18.5
19.6
16.6
19.9
20.3
16.6
17.8
17.8
18.7
21.1
22.8
16.8
18.2
18.6
17.6
Age
at Ma
35-44
16.5
20.3
18.0
16.8
17.8
19.4
16.8
19.3
19.4
17.0
18.1
18.4
19.2
21.1
22.8
17.0
17.8
18.5
17.5
rriage
Total
(25-44)
16.3
20.6
17.8
16.6
18.2
19.5
16.7
19.7
20.0
16.8
17.9
17.9
18.8
21.1
22.8
16.9
18.0
18.5
17.5
atAf
25-34
68.6
19.2
55.4
63.7
47.9
31.0
63.6
30.8
25.8
62.3
54.8
55.2
41.8
5.7
6.8
62.4
50.6
42.1
54.1
Married
;e
17
or
Be
35^4
69.0
24.1
45.9
63.8
51.9
37.3
63.2
39.8
35.0
62.3
50.2
43.9
32.5
22.1
13.2
60.3
55.3
49.6
56.5
ifor e
Total
(25-44)
68.8
21.1
51.6
63.8
49.5
33.6
63.4
34.2
29.7
62.3
53.3
51.8
39.8
9.7
8.4
61.5
52.9
44.6
55.1
atAf
25-34
10.3
49.7
16.8
11.9
28.7
38.1
11.7
42.9
50.4
14.0
21.6
21.4
24.9
54.6
73.8
12.8
27.9
32.6
21.1
Marrif
e21
or
35-44
13.8
40.5
27.5
15.9
26.8
32.9
16.7
32.0
34.5
17.4
26.5
25.2
32.4
46.3
68.1
14.2
22:7
32.8
20.9
d
Later
Total
(25-44)
11.8
46.1
21.1
13.6
27.9
35.9
13.8
38.9
43.6
15.7
23.2
22:6
26.5
52.6
72.4
13.4
27.8
32.6
21.1
ofSa
25-34
62.8
25.3
10.3
57.1
19.5
16.7
72.8
15.2
11.9
51.1
18.8
14.4
8.3
3.2
3.9
56.0
6.1
37.6
100.0
imple3
35-44
66.1
22.3
9.9
57.7
18.5
17.0
74.7
12.5
12.3
71.3
12.9
8:7
3.3
1.4
1.8
61.2
7.9
30.2
100.0
Sam
25-34
956
1164
329
815
750
754
1143
674
677
885
502
433
286
141
245
1345
144
1007
2501
ipleNb
35-44
669
818
226
582
459
552
788
450
493
945
294
229
104
67
82
1171
102
459
1743
^Weighted
to
national
population
composition.
The
categories
of
each variable do not sum
to
100
because
others/dont
know
categories
are
not
listed.
Unweighted
number
of
interviews.
The
figures for each
variable do
not sum to
the
total
because
others/dont
know
categories
are not listed.
Source:
1966-1967 West
Malaysian
Family
Survey
(National
Family
Planning Board,
1968).
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6/15
ted in
this
survey,
including
social
origins,
longest
place
of
residence prior
to
marriage,
education,
and
premarital
work
experience.
These variables
allow
for
a
rather
compre-
hensive
analysis
of
the
sociostructural
influ-
ences
upon age
at
first
marriage
in
Penin-
sular Malaysia.
There is an
intrinsic
bias
in
studying
age
at
first
marriage
in
a
sample
restricted
to
cur-
rently
married
women.
Young
women
who
have
married
are
included
in
the
sample
while those
who
have
postponed
marriage
are
not._Tp_
reduce
the
effects
of this
bias,
our
study
limits
the
sample
to
married
women
who were
older
than
age
25
at the
time
of
the
survey.
By
age
25,
about
90
percent
of the
Malay
and
Indian
women,
and
almost
80
per-
cent
of the
Chinese
women
were
married
in
1970.
Another
potential
problem
with the
sample
is
that
formerly-married women
.
e.
those
women
who
were
divorced,
separated,
or
widowed) at the time
of the survey
were
ex-
cluded,
while women
who had
remarried
were
included.
We
suspect
that the
association
between
age
and
first
marriage
and
marital
disruption
is not
large enough
to
affect
our
results
although
we
have
no
independent
evi-
dence
on this.
have no
independent
evidence
on
this.
VARIABLES
AFFECTING
AGE
AT
FIRST
MARRIAGE
In
this section
we describe
the
associations
between
several
independent
variables
and
age
at first
marriage
among
our
sample
of
currently
married
women older than
25
years.
Table 3
presents
three
summary
measures
of
age
at
first
marriage:
the
mean,
the
per-
centage marrying
below
age
18, and
the
per-
centage
marrying
at
21
years
or
older
by
se-
lected
social
background
variables for
women
aged
25-34
and
35-44.
For each
independent
variable
in
Table
3, the residual
categories
other
and unknown are
not listed,
although
these
cases are
included
in the
Total
figures
if data
concerning
their
age
at
first
marriage
were
reported.
For
the
total
sample,
the mean
age
at first
marriage
is
17.5
years,
considerably
lower
than
the
singulate
mean
age
at
first
marriage
for either 1957 or
1970.
(To some
extent
this
lower estimate
may
reflect the
absence
of
young
women
who
marry
late
from the
sample
of
currently
married
women.)
There
is
considerable
variance
about
the
mean;
over
one-half
of
the
women
in
the
sample
married
before
age
18,
while
one-fifth
married
at
age
21
or later.
However,
there
is
ho
evidence
of
any
overall
trend
when
comparing
women
aged
35-44
with
the
younger
cohort
of
women
aged
25-34.
The
selection bias
in
a
cross-
sectional
sample
of
currently
married
women,
as
discussed
earlier,
masks the
trend
that
we
have
observed
from
census
data.
There are,
however,
strong
associations
be-
tween
age
at
first
marriage
and
the
ethnic
background
variables
shown in
Table
3.
Of
those
Malaysian
women aged
25-44
in
1966-1967, the
Chinese
evidenced by
far
the
highest
mean
age
at
first
marriage;
marrying
almost
three
years
later,
on the
average,
than
Indian
women,
and
more
than
four
years
later
than
Malay
women.
Put
another way,
while
almost one-half of
the Chinese
women
married
after
the
age
of 21,
less
than
20
per-
cent
of
the
Indians
and only
10
percent
of the
Malays
did
so.
The
socioeconomic
status
of
family origin,
as
measured
by
fathers
occupation
when
respondent
was
twelve
years
old,
also
exerted
a
strong
influence on
age
at
first
marriage.
Two-thirds
of the daughters
of
fanners
mar-
ried below
age
18,
whereas
only
one-third
of
the daughters
of white
collar
workers
did
so.
The effect of
a
blue-collar family
origin
was
intermediate
between
the
effects
of farm and
white
collar
origins.
Another
variable
of
interest
is that
of rural-
urban
origins.
One
question
in
the
survey
in-
quired
about
the
type
of
place
of
longest
residence
prior
to
marriage,
Presumably,
this
place
was the locale of adolescent
sociali-
zation
and
education
which
exposed
the
respondent
tocommunity
norms
about
adult
behavior.
Women
who
grew
up
in
either
small towns
or in
larger
towns or cities
were
much more
likely
to
postpone
marriage
than
those
who
grew
up
in rural
areas.
Although
the
difference in
age
at first
marriage
be-
tween
those
from
small
towns
and
those
from
towns
or
cities
was
minimal, it
was
in
the ex-
pected
direction. In
contrast
to
the
lack
of
inter-cohort
change
in
the effects
of
other
variables,
there
was a
substantial
increment
in
the
age
of first
marriage
for those
women
from
urban areas between
the
35-44 and
25-34
age
groups. Perhaps
the
rural-urban
gradiant
has widened for these
cohorts
of
women.
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Of
all
the
variables
in
this
table,
years
of
education
has
by
far
the
strongest
effect.
The
difference
between
no
schooling
and
a few
years
of
primary
education
is
modest
but
real,
resulting
in
about
one
year
of
marital
post-
ponement.
The
completion
of
primary
school
(through
the
sixth
grade)
delays
marriage
almost
another
year.
But
entry
into
lower
secondary
education
(7th
and
8th
grades)
has
the
strongest
effect;
the
mean
age
at
first.
marriage
increases
another
two
to
three
years.
Another
way
to
express
these
differ-
ences
is to
consider
the
percentage
who
marry
at
age
21
or later.
Of
those
women
with
pri-
mary
schooling
or
less,
only
25
percent
married
at
age
21
or
later.
But
50
percent
of
the
women
with
seven
or
eight
years
of
school-
ing
and
almost
75
percent
of the
women
with
nine
or
more
years
of schooling
postponed
marriage
until
after
age
21.
The
distribution
of
the
sample
by
education
shows
that
only
a
small
fraction
of
women
received
any
post-
primary
schooling
(less
than
8
percent
of
women aged
25-34
and
less than
4
percent
of
women
aged
35-44) in
1966-1967.
But
as
edu-
cation
becomes
more
widely
available
to the
female
population,
its
impact
should
grow.
The last
independent
variable
in
Table
3 is
premarital
work
experience.
Women
who
have
worked
ar e subdivided
into two
cate-
gories.
those
who
worked
only
at
home
and
those
who worked
outside
the
home
(also
in-
cludes
women
who
worked
both
at
home
and
outside
the
home).
Work
is defined
accord-
ing
to
the standard
labor-force concept
which
includes
unpaid
family
workers
in
family
farms
or
enterprises.
Housework
and
care
for
small
children at
home
is
not
part
of
this
con-
ventional
measure.
Theoretically,
work
experience
can
post-
pone
marriage
of
young
women
for two
rea-
sons. Families
whose
daughters
are
economi-
cally
active
may
not
be so
eager
to
lose them
from
the
parental
household.
Additionally,
young
women
may
wish to
maintain
their
in-
dependence
for
a
while before settling
down
to traditional
domestic
roles,
and
work
pro-
vides them with the
necessary
resources to
remain
single.
The differences
in
age
at
first
marriage
by
premarital
work
experience
are
in
the
expected
direction,
bu t
of a
fairly
modest
magnitude,
since
only
a 1.6
year
if
ference
in
mean
age
at
first
marriage
sepa-
rates
those who
never
worked
from those
who
worked
outside
the
home.
EXPLAINING
ETHNIC
DIFFERENCES
The
considerable
ethnic
gap
in
average
age
at
first
marriage
may
have
a variety
of ex-
planations.
One
interpretation
is that
Malays
are
more
likely
to
live
in
rural
areas,
have
agricultural
origins
and
have
fewer educa-
tional
opportunities
than
the
Chinese
and
Indians, and
that
differences
in marriage age
simply
reflect
ethnic
differences
in
these
background
variables.
Another interpreta-
tion
is
that
differences
in
ethnic
cultures
or
value
orientations
are
the
primary
reason
for
earlier
Malay marriage,
regardless
of struc-
tural
differentials.
To
address
this
issue,
Table
4
shows
the
same
three
age
at
first
marriage
indicators
(mean,
percentage
of
women
below
age
18, and
percentage
of
women
21
years
or
older)
for
the
same
selec-
ted
background
variables
in
Table 3, sepa-
rately
for
Malay,
Chinese,
and
Indian
women,
aged
25-44 in
1966-1967.
Data
pre-
sented
in
this
table
allows
us
to
address
two
questions:
(1 )
what are
the
ethnic
differen-
tials,
if
any,
within
the
same
categories
of
each
independent
variable?
and
(2)
do
the
relative
effects
of these
variables
differ across
ethnic
groups?
In
general,
.ethnic
differences
remain
at
almost
their
original
level,
even
when
holding
background
constant.
Chinese
women
who
are
daughters
of
farmers
marry
almost
four
years
later
than
do
Malay
women
with agri-
cultural
origins.
Within
white-collar
families,
the
Chinese-Malay
gap
is
narrowed,
but still
remains
substantial
with
a
three-year
differ-
ential.
In
fact,
only
when
women
attain
post-
primary
education, do ethnic
differences
be-
come
negligible.
For
al l
other
background
variables,
including
residence
prior
to
mar-
riage
and
work
experience,
Chinese
women
marry
substantially
later
(three
to
four
years)
than
Malay
women
(with
Indians
occupying
an
intermediate
position).
Addressing
the
second
question
raised
above, the
effects
of
background
variables
on
age
at first
marriage
are
attenuated,
but
still
remain
important
within
ethnic communities.
For
instance, the
difference between
being
the
daughter
of
a
farmer
o r a white-collar
worker
is
about
three
years
in
mean
age
at
first
marriage
overall
(Table
3),
bu t
only
about
one
year
within
each ethnic
com-
munity
(Table
4). The effects
of education
on
age
at first
marriage
ar e still
substantial
with-
November
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TABLE
4.
MEAN
AGE AT
FIRST
MARRIAGE,
PERCENTAGE
MARRIED BEFORE
AGE
18,
AND
PERCENTAGE
MARRIED
AT
AGE
21 OR
LATER
OF
CURRENTLY
MARRIED
WOMEN,
AGE
25-44,
BY
ETHNIC
COMMUNITY
AND
SELECTED
BACKGROUND
CHARACTERISTICS:
PENINSULAR
MALAY-
SIA, 1966-1967
0
M White
Collar
17.6
>
0
Tl
g
2
>
0
m
>
6
17.3
H
X
w
2
None
16.0
r:
Work
Outside
Home
16.9
Z
I
D
3
S
Weighted
to
national
population composition.
The
categories
of
each
variable do
no
^Unweighted
number of interviews. The
figures
for
each
variable do not
sum
to
the
^0
~i
v0
Mean
A
Malay
Fathers Occupation
Agricultural 16.2
Blue
Collar
16.3
Longest
Place of
Residence
Before
Marriage
Rural
16.2
Small
Town
17.6
Town or City
17.2
Years of
Schooling
None
16.0
1-3
15.7
4-5
17.2
7-8
21.1
9
or
more
21.6
Premarital Work
Experience
Work
Only
at
Home
16.8
Total Sample
of
Currently
Married
Women
16.3
*Lessthan
10 cases.
Source:
1966-1967
West Malayaan
Family Survey (National
Family Planning Board,
.ge
at
Mi
Chinese
20.0
20.6
20,9
19.8
20.8
21.2
19,7
20.8
20.8
21.0
21.6
23.7
19.7
21.4
21.5
20.6
image
Indian
17.4
17.8
18.6
17.5
18.5
18.6
17.3
17.9
16.9
17.0
20.1
22.5
17.0
18.5
17.8
at
Age
Malay
C
70.1
70.9
54.7
69.8
60.7
60.4
71.4
80.8
61.3
54.6
5.0
11.1
72.4
64.0
62.1
68.8
Married
17
or Bel
Chinese
25.4
23.4
17.1
28.9
19.5
15.2
30.5
16.6
17.9
14.4
8.4
2.1
27.7
20.7
13.5
21.1
or e
Indian
50.4
52.6
51.7
51.8
51.0
51.4
51.6
56.1
58.4
80.6
29.9
13.4
58.3
*
44.1
51.6
at
A
Malay
10.4
13.0
20.6
10.6
21.1
22,6
11.1
3.4
15.8
12.5
47.6
54.9
7.6
16.6
19.2
11.8
Marrif
ge 21 or
Chinese
38.7
47.5
46.7
36.5
48.7
52.2
35.9
48.6
49.8
47.1
65.7
81.6
34.0
58.9
58.1
46.1
add
to
otalbeo
1968).
;d
Later
Indian
18.3,
22.4
25.9
17.8
27.3
34.7
17.7
22.9
11.3
8.4
35.8
68.3
12.9
*
29.3
21.1
100
percent
because
others/do
iuse
others/dont
know
categol
of
Sam
Malay
72.1
13.1
8.5
89.2
6.1
4.7
67.1
12.6
12.6
5.1
1.5
0.8
62.6
7.8
29.1
100.0
iple
Popu
Chinese
24.1
29.6
37.2
31.7
35.2
32.0
42.1
25.6
10.7
10.5
4.5
6.5
49.7
7.5
42.8
100.0
ilation3
Indian
39.8
33.5
20.4
74.1
15.0
10.8
53.3
19.4
13.5
3.8
3.3
5.9
50.1
1.4
48.3
100.0 1626
in t
kno
riesare
S
Malay
846
327
330
1116
233
226
837
227
312
124
60
54
1135
103
381
iw categoric
not listed.
ample
N11
Chinese
395
618
790
488
679
803
764
473
25 4
225
104
158
990
136
854
1982
are
not listed.
ndian
138
241
149
256
191
105
216
90
96
38
39
64
370
7
174
555
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8/10/2019 Age at First Marriage in Peninsular Malaysia
9/15
TABLE
5
EFFECTS
OF
SOCIAL
BACKGROUND
ON
AGE
AT
FIRST
MARRIAGE
OF
MARRIED
WOMEN
AGES
25-44:
PENINSULAR
MALAYSIA,
1966-1967
Gross__________Net_________
Unweighted
(N)
Ethnic
Community
Malay
Chinese
Indian
Others
Fathers
Occupation
Agricultural
-0.88
Blue Collar
0.67
White
Collar
1-98
Not Reported
Longest
Residence
Prior
to
Marriage
Rural
-0.82
Small
Town
2.12
Town
or
City
2.41
Not
Reported
Educational
Attainment
None
-0.74
Primary
(1-6)
0.53
Lower
Secondary (7-8)
3.58
9
or More
Years
5.28
Not Reported
-1.20
-0.84
1621
3.05
2.29
1981
0.22
-0.09 553
81
-0.14
1393
1208
1304
33 1
-0.02
0.34
-0.17
0.51
0.39
1924
1124
1170
18
-0.43
0.25
2.47
3.43
1825
1846
208
327
30
Premarital
Work
Experience
None------
-0:66
-0.52
2510
Only at Home
0.50
0.73
246
Outside
Home
1.00
0.72
1465
Not
Reported__________________
-_________^_______________
Notes-
Effects
are
expressed
as
deviations
from
the
grand
mean
of
17.54
years.
Coefficients
ofthe
Not
Reported
categories
are
not
listed
here,
but
they
were
included m
the
regression
Source:
1966^1967
West
Malaysian
Family
Survey
(National
Family
Planning
Board,
1968).
in
ethnic
communities,
though
reduced
some-
first
marriage
is reduced
from
4.25
years
to
what.
Working
prior
to
marriage
ha s
a
3.13
years,
the
Malay-Indian
difference
from
stronger
effect
within
the Chinese
and
Indian
1.44
to
.75
years,
and the
Chinese-Indian
dif-
communities
than
among
Malay
women.
In
ference
from
2.83
to
2.20
years.
short, it
appears
that
ethnicity
(with
the
ex-
It
is
obvious
that
most
of the
ethnic
dif-
ception
of
post-primary
education) is
a
much
ferences
in
age
at
first
marriage
are
not
due
to
more
significant
variable
in
affecting
age
at
differences
in
social background
as
measured
first
marriage
than any
of
the
structural
van-
by
these
variables.
Perhaps
other
structural
ables
considered
in
this
study,
variables
that
more directly explain
the
dif-
One
final test
of
the
relative
effects
of
ferential exposure
to modernizing
influ-
ethnicity
and
social
background
characteris-
ences
or
household-economic
structures
tics
is
presented
in
Table
5,
which shows
each
would
further
reduce the
ethnic
differentials
variables
gross
and
net
effects,
i.e.
control-
in
age
at
first
marriage.
But
others
might
ling
for the
additive
effects
of
all
other
van-
argue
that
the
basic
differences
are
rooted in
ables
in
the
same
regression equation.
Effects
cultural
factors
tied
to
religion
and
value
are expressed
as
deviations
from
the
grand
orientations
on the
appropriate
roles
for
mean
of
17.54
years
old
at first
marriage.
The
young
women.
The
question
is one
of
great
net ethnic
coefficients
in
Table
5 show
the
significance,
yet
we are
unable
to
resolve
it
ethnic
differences
after
statistically
holding
with
the
data
at
hand.
constant
ethnic
variations
in fathers
occupa-
tion,
place
of
residence
prior
to
marriage,
educational
attainment
and
premarital
work
^
SOCIOSTRUCTURAL
MODEL
experience
among
the
sample
of
married
^
g
^
pIRST
MARRIAGE
women.
Controlling
for
all
these
vanables,
the Malay-Chinese
difference
in
mean
age
at
From
the
variables
discussed
in
the
pre-
November 1979
JOURNAL
OF
MARRIAGE
AND THE
FAMILY
885
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8/10/2019 Age at First Marriage in Peninsular Malaysia
10/15
FIGURE 1.
LIFE-CYCLE
MODEL OF
SOCIAL
BACKGROUND
N
AGE
AT FIRST MARRIAGE,
PENINSU-
LAR
MALAYSIA, 1966-1967
ETHNICITY
EDUCATIONAL
.ATTAIIIMENT
None
Prinary
(1-6)
Lower Secondary (7-8)
Nine
More Years
Not
Reported
FATHERS OCCUPATION
White
Collar
Blue
Collar
Agricultural
Not Reported
PREMARITAL
WORK
EXPERIENCE
PLACE
OF
LONGEST
RESIDENCE
PRIOR
TO MARRIAGE
Rural
Area
Small
Town
Town
City
Not
Reported
ceding
section,
it
is
possible
to
posit a
causal
model
of
sociostructural
influences on
age
at
first
marriage.
Following
a
life-cycle
order-
ing,
Figure
1
shows the
paths
of
influence of
social
background
on
age
at
first
marriage.
Each
variable
is assumed
to have
a causal
im-
pact
on
al l variables
to
its
right
(arrows
are
omitted
for the
sake
of
clarity).
The
first
var-
iables
in the
model
are
those
of
ethnicity,
socioeconomic
and
spatial
origins.
Since
eth-
nicity
is
so
closely
linked with the
other vari-
ables, we
use it as
a
control
variable,
running
separate
models
for
Malays,
Chinese and
Indians.
Socioeconomic
and
spatial
origins
are indexed
by
fathers
occupation
and
type
of
place
of
longest
residence
before
marriage,
respectively.
These
variables
are
posited
to
affect
age
at
first
marriage
directly
and in-
directly
through
the
intervening
variables,
educational
attainment
and
premarital
work
experience.
Educational
attainment
is
posited
to
have
a
causal
impact
on
marriage postponement,
net
of
the
social
origin
variables.
It
seems
likely
that because
part
of
the
effect
of educa-
tion
is learned
job
skills or
acquired aspira-
tions,
educational
attainment
could
feasibly
result
in
delayed
marriage.
Thus, both direct
and
indirect
effects
of education
are
hypothe-
sized
here.
Work
experience
prior
to
mar-
riage
is
also
expected
to
delay
marriage,
net
of
the
other
variables
in
the
model.
The statistical method
of
analysis
is
dummy
variable
regression
or
multiple
classi-
fication
analysis,
with
separate
models
being
run
for each
of
the
three
stages
of the
model.
The
results
are
presented
in
Table
6,
sepa-
rately
for
the
three
ethnic communities
in
Peninsular
Malaysia.
For each variable, the
Not
Reported
category
is included
in
the
analysis
to
avoid
losing
cases,
but the coeffi-
cients
are not listed, since
they
have no
sub-
stantive
meaning.
Effects
(regression
coeffi-
cients) are
expressed
for
each
ethnic
com-
munity
as
deviations
from
grand
mean
of
age
at
first
marriage.
886
JOURNAL
OP
MARRIAGE AND THE
FAMILY
November
1979
-
8/10/2019 Age at First Marriage in Peninsular Malaysia
11/15
^
TABLE 6.
EFFECTS OF
SOCIAL BACKGROUND
ON AGE
AT
FIRST MARRIAGE
01 MARRIED WOMEN
AGES 25-44.
SEPARATELY
BY ETHNIC
COMMU-
2
NITY:
PENINSULAR
MALAYSIA,
1966-1967
a
Malay
Chinese
Indian
^
(Mean
16.34
years)
^^^
(Mean
20.59
years)
unweighted
(Mean
17.8
years)
u,,^,gi,ted
^
Model:
la 2t>
y
(N)
ia
21
(N)
I3
2
3c
(N)
Fathers
Occupation
Agricultural
-0.13
-0.19
-0.12
843
-0.30 0.01
-0.11
395
-0.21
0
BlueCoUar
-0.10
-0.13
-0.06
327
-0.12
-0.06 -0.20
617
-0.03
c
White
Collar
1.03
0.71
0.81 329
0.17
-0.12
0.08 790
0.59
5
Not
Reported
122
179
>
-i
Longest
Place
of Residence
Prior
to
-0.09 -0.06
0.30
0.18
-0.25
-0.01
137
241
148
27
0
Marriage
Rural Area
-0.11
-0.05
-0.05
1161 -0.73
-0.46
-0.52
487
-0.20
2
SmaUTown
1.01 0.56
0.51
233 0.17 0.14 0.21 679
0.57
g
Town
or
City
0.70
0.22
0.27
226
0.50 0.25
0.24
803
0.60
SO
Not
Reported
\1
>
Educational
Attainment
PI
None
-0.24 -0.29
834
-0.80 -0.77
763
>
Primary
(1-6 years)
0.17
0.27
661 0.22 0.27
952
Z
Lower
Secondary
(7-8)
4.42
4.39
60 0.92
0.75 104
9 or more
years
4.72
4.48
54 2.97 2.52 158
^
Not
Reported
12
4
^Tl
Premarital Work
Experience
>
None
-0.38 1132 -0.88
989
2
Only
at Home
0.71 102 0.88 136
p
Outside
Home
0.60
380 0.87 854
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12/15
Fathers
Occupation
Socioeconomic
origins
ha s
only
a
modest
effect
on
marital
postponement
in
the
Malay
community.
The
mean difference in marital
age
between
women
from
agricultural
fami-
lies
and
those
from higher
status
families
(white-collar)
is
less than
1.2
years
(Model
1).
There
is
essentially
no
difference
between
those
with blue-collar
origins
and those
having
an
agricultural
background.
Adding
educational
attainment
and
premarital
work
experience
into the
equation
further
reduces
the
gap
between
agricultural
and white-collar
origins
to
about .9
year.
Among
Chinese
and
Indian
women,
the
difference
in
total effects
(Model
1) is
even
smaller
(.5
for Chinese
and .8 for
Indians)
and is
almost
nonexistent in the
subsequent
models
when education and
work
experience
are controlled.
In fact,
when
education
is
held
constant, the
net effect of white-collar
origins among
Chinese
and
Indians
appears
to reduce
age
at first
marriage
relative
to
the
other socioeconomic
origin
categories.
These
data
suggest
that there
is
not
a
strong
inverse
relationship
between
socio-
economic
origins
and
age
at
first
marriage
in
Peninsular
Malaysia.
It
is
only
important
to
a
modest
extent
among
Malay
women.
Place
of
Longest
Residence
Prior
to
Marriage
We
hypothesize
that
growing
up
in an
urban area
would
tend
to
postpone
age
at
marriage.
This
should
occur
through indirect
channels;
urban
areas
provide
greater
oppor-
tunities for
higher
education
and
jobs
which
might
lead
young
women to
delay
marriage.
In
a
direct
way,
urban
society
might
also
con-
vey
new
social
norms
that
later
marriage
is
an
acceptable
behavior
for
young
women
(and
for their
families).
The
evidence
in
Table
6
modestly
supports
this
hypothesis.
While
the
effects
of
the
three
categories
of
rural-urban
background
are
not
always
linear, there
is
a
consistent
finding
that
women
from
rural
origins
do
marry
at
a
younger
age
(about
a
year s
difference
in
all
three ethnic
communities,
see
Model
1).
When
education
is
introduced
in
Model
2,
the
effects of
geographical
background
are
reduced
by
more
than
half
among
Malay
and
Chinese
women,
and
even
reversed
among
Indian
women.
Access
to
jobs,
as
measured
by premarital
work
experience,
does,not
seem
to mediate
any
of
the
impact
of
residential
background.
In
sum,
we conclude
that
social
origin,
as
measured
by
fathers
occupation,
and
place
of
longest
residence
before
marriage,
have
real,
but
fairly
modest effects
on
delaying age
at first
marriage,
and most of these effects
are
indirect
through
educational
attainment.
Educational
Attainment
Years
of
education is
by
far
the most
sig-
nificant
variable
in
the model.
Primary
edu-
cation
(1-6
years)
has
only
a
slightly
greater
delaying
effect than no
schooling.
The differ-
ence, net of
social
origins,
is
only
.4
and
.2
of
a
year
for
Malays
and
Indians,
respectively.
For Chinese,
however,
primary
schooling
does
postpone
marriage
for
about
a
year
rela-
tive
to
women
who
have had
no education
at
all.
But
most
of
the
effect of
education
is
for
those
with
at
least lower
secondary
schooling.
The
effects
are
smallest
for
Chinese,
but
still
substantial.
Deviations
above
the
mean
age
at
first
marriage
ar e
approximately
four
to five
years
for
Malay
and
Indian
women
with
post-
primary
schooling.
The
effects
of
education are
more
than
just
a
postponement
of
marriage
until
schooling
is
completed.
For
instance, women
who have
only
seven
or
eight years
of
schooling
will
have
completed
their
education
by
age
14
or
15
at
the
latest,
yet
most
postpone
their mar-
riage
several
years
beyond
this
age.
Thus,
it
seems
that
education has
other
consequences
that
influence
young
women
(and their
fam-
ilies)
to
delay
marriage.
Part
of
the
effect of
education
is a
mediation of
socioeconomic
and
residential
background
as
noted
in
earlier
paragraphs.
But
the
Substantial
in-
crease
in
variance
explained
for
Model
2
com-
pared
to
Model
1
indicates
that most of
the
effect of
education
on
age
at
first
marriage
is
independent
of
social
background.
Surprisingly, very little
of
the
effect
of
edu-
cation on
age
at
first
marriage
is
mediated
by
premarital
work
experience.
We
would
expect
that
one of
the
basic
consequences
of
higher
education
would
be
to
enhance
em-
ployment
skills
and
aspirations
which
would
tend to
delay
marriage.
But
almost all
of
the
effects
of
education
are found
to
be
directly
on
age
at
first
marriage,
at
least in
this
model.
88 8
JOURNAL
OF
MARRIAGE
AND
THE
FAMILY
November
1979
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8/10/2019 Age at First Marriage in Peninsular Malaysia
13/15
Premarital
Work
Experience
Although
work experience
prior
to
mar-
riage
does
not
seem
to
mediate any
of the
effects
of
social
origins
or education
on
age
at
first
marriage,
it
does
have
a
modest
net
effect
on
the
postponement
of
marriage.
Malay
women
who
worked
prior
to
marriage
married
about
a
year
later
than
women
who
di d
not,
and
the
comparable
difference
is
about
one
and
one-half
years
for
Chinese
and
Indian
women.
It
may
be that
work
provides
psychological
and
financial
alternatives
to
early
marriage.
Perhaps,
too,
parents
are
less
willing
to
marry
daughters
at
an
early
age
if
they
are
augmenting
the
family
income.
The
distinction
between
work
at
home
and
out-
side
the home
was
initially
thought
to
be
very
significant,
yet
it
appears
to be
of
no conse-
quence.
DISCUSSION
AND
CONCLUSIONS
It
is
probably
a futile
effort
to
attempt
to
develop
a
general
theory
of the
nuptiality
transition.
While
the
general
forces of
change
in
marriage
patterns
may
be
similar
in
differ-
ent
contexts
and
at different
times,
no
common
set
of
factors
such as
industrializa-
tion
or
urbanization
seems
to
be
universally
associated
with
the
timing
of
marriage.
Even
within
the
less
developed
nations
of Asia,
there
is
a diversity
of
levels and
trends
that
bears
no
obvious relationship
to
relative
levels
of
socioeconomic
development.
An
alternative comparative
strategy
of
re-
search
is
to proceed
inductively,
by
empirical
investigation
of
trends
in
age
at
first
marriage
and
the socioeconomic
correlates of
age
at
first
marriage.
From this
perspective,
one
can
develop
a
causal model
that
can be
empiri-
cally
estimated
and
used
to
interpret
the
relative effects
of
social
background
charac-
teristics
on
age
at
first
marriage.
In
this
study,
we
have examined the
case of
Penin-
sular
Malaysia.
An
extension
of this
strategy
to
other
societies
and
a
comparison
of
the
results
might
lead to
a more
cumulative
tradi-
tion
of
comparative
research.
Comparisons
of
proportions
of
married
women in the
censuses
of
1947, 1957,
and
1970
show
a remarkable
trend
towards
de-
layed marriage
in
Peninsular
Malaysia.
While
only
the
Chinese
population
registered
a
significant
trend toward
delayed marriage
among
women
from
1947 to
1957,
the
1957 to
1970
period
saw
major
changes
for
all three
ethnic
communities. The
singulate
mean
age
at
first
marriage
was
above
21
years
for
Malays
and
Indians
in
1970
and
above
24
years
for Chinese
women.
It
appears
that
teenage
marriage
is
becoming
less common
in
Peninsular
Malaysia.
These trends
revealed
by
examination
of
successive
cross-sectional
census
data
are
not
detected
in
our
analysis
of
age
at
first mar-
riage
of
currently
married
women interviewed
in
the
1966-1967
West
Malaysian
Family
Sur-
vey.
This sample
of married
women
aged
25-44
is underrepresentative
of
those
who
marry
late
because
of the
selection
criteria
(currently
married
women) or other
sampling
factors.
Nonetheless,
there
is considerable
variance
in
age
at first
marriage
in
the sam-
ple,
and
we have no
reason
to
suspect
that
associations
of
background
variables
and
age
at first
marriage
are
biased.
Of
all
the background
variables
that
are
associated
with
age
at
first
marriage,
eth-
nicity
is
by
far
the
strongest.
Controlling
for
other
characteristics
(socioeconomic
and
resi-
dential
origins,
educational
attainment,
and
premarital
work
experience),
either
individ-
ually
or
simultaneously,
ethnic
differences
in
age
at
first
marriage
are
only slightly
attenu-
ated.
It
may
be
possible
that
further
refine-
ment
of
the
control
variables,
such
as land
tenure
or
land holdings
of
farmers,
and
types
of
work
experience
of
young
women
would
reduce
the Malay-Chinese-Indian
differen-
tials.
But the
differences
are
so substantial
that
it
seems safe
to
conclude
that a
good
share
of
ethnic
variations
in
age
at
first
mar-
riage
are
due to differential
cultural
orienta-
tions
about the
appropriate
timing
of mar-
riage.
But
the
convergence
of ethnic
differ-
entials
over
time
(from
1957 to
1970)
and
the
similarity
of
age
at
first
marriage
for
all
women
with
post-primary
education (Table
4)
warns
against
any
conclusions
that
ethnic
dif-
ferences
will
necessarily
persist.
Among
the three
ethnic
communities,
a
comparison
of
the models
of
age
at first
mar-
riage
shows
a
rough
comparability
of
effects
of
background
variables.
Socioeconomic
and
residential origins
have
a
modest
influence
which
may
delay
marriage
for a
year
or so
for
women
with
the
most
advantaged
back-
ground
relative
to those
with
the
least.
A
sub-
stantial
share
of the
effects
of
socioeconomic
November
1979
JOURNAL
OF
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AND
THE
FAMILY
889
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8/10/2019 Age at First Marriage in Peninsular Malaysia
14/15
and residential
background
are
mediated
by
higher
education.
Less than
10
percent
of the
Malaysian
women
in
this
sample
have
advanced
beyond
primary
schooling.
But
for
the
small share
who did,
marriage
has
been postponed
for
several
years
beyond
those
who
had
no
schooling
or only
a
primary
education.
The
effects
of education
on
marital
postponement
are
largely
independent
of
social
background
and
subsequent
work
experience.
Although
our
data are unable
to
test
such a
hypothesis,
we
would
posit
that
the
recent
expansion
of
educational
opportunity
in Malaysia
has been
largely
responsible
for the
trend
towards
a
later
age
at
first
marriage.
Work
prior
to
marriage
has a
positive
effect
on
marital
post-
ponement
of
about
one
to
one-and-a-half
years,
depending
on the
ethnic
community.
The
effect
of
work experience
is
completely
independent
of social
background
and educa-
tion.
The
models used
in
this
analysis represent
only
the
beginnings
of a
comprehensive
analysis
of
age
at
marriage
in
Malaysia.
With
only
7
to
15
percent
of the
variance
explained,
there
is
considerable
room
for further
identi-
fication
of
the
social and
economic
determi-
nants
of
age
at
first
marriage
in
Malaysia
and
elsewhere.
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