Ideal Age at Marriage and its Correlates in Yazd City

The increasing trend of age at marriage has been one of the important aspects of recent developments of marriage and family in Iran. Coordinated with the trend of delay in marriage, social attitudes towards the desirable and ideal age at marriage have also changed. This paper analyzes social attitudes and ideals related to the appropriate marriage age for girls and boys and its correlates. The results of this paper is drawn from sample survey data from two groups of women: married aged 15-49 years (n=480), and unmarried girls aged 18-29 years (n=240) in Yazd. In order to explain the differences between womens’ attitudes towards ideal age at marriage, the impact of such factors as marital status, respondent’s education, parents’ education, self-actualization, attitude towards gender equality and individualism are assessed and analyzed. Our results showed that the desired average range of marriage age for girls and boys is between 22.5 and 27.5 years, respectively. Controlling for such variables respondent’s education, parents’ education, self-actualization, attitude towards gender equality and individualism and cultural capital had a direct and significant relationship with the attitude towards girls’ age at marriage, and in contrast, adherence to religious values had an inverse and significant relationship with age at marriage.