What are determinants of marriage in marriage hunting?: From a perspective of marital studies, a quantitative study of a case of Ehime marriage support center

Abstract

This paper examines what promotes and blocks marriage in marriage hunting activities. So far, plenty of case studies have been conducted, yet no quantitative analyses have been done. Therefore, we focus on Ehime Marriage Support Center as a case to collect individual trajectories of registered 4,779 members in the last four years. We conduct event history analyses on hazard ratios of withdrawal by marriage. Findings are (1) Among males, higher socio-economic status (education, full-time worker, and income) provide more chances of getting married. Among females, we find no such effects. (2) Among males and females, marriage chances increase when they are younger or having experiences of marriage. (3) Among males, taller people increase marriage chances. Therefore, main determinants of marriage are socio-economic status among males while it is age among females. These findings imply b a practical lesson that to enlarge marriage chances, one should start marriage hunting as soon as possible.