This thesis describes a program of research which aimed to identify the extent to which couple and stepfamily variables were associated with couple relationship adjustment and stability in stepfamily couples. Two studies were conducted. Study 1 consisted of 63 stepfamily couples who were in a committed relationship (married or cohabiting) and who had earlier taken part in an intervention program. It was hypothesised that positive couple relationship outcomes could be predicted by low couple aggression, high couple negativity, low couple withdrawal, high parenting disagreement, and high dysfunctional parenting over a 5-year period. The results did not support the hypotheses possibly due to low power in the design. In Study 2, 122 stepfamily couples who been living together (married or cohabiting) as a stepfamily were assessed on couple and stepfamily factors, and these were tested for their association with couple relationship adjustment and stability, using both self-report questionnaires and interview data. As predicted, stepfamily factors accounted for variance in couple stability above that accounted for by couple factors. Furthermore, stepfamily factors were associated with couple stability independent of couple adjustment. The influence of stepfamily couple relationship adjustment and stability seem distinctive from first-marriage couples. It was concluded that stepfamily relationship education programs for stepfamilies should address the unique needs of stepfamilies such as parenting education for inexperienced stepparents, the development of positive stepparent-stepchild relationships, and the building of stepfamily cohesion.

Ideological shifts in Western society have transformed the process of entry into first unions including: a significant decline in legal marriage, later age marriage, and an increase in nonmarital cohabitation. Some literature has found that these trends have been further impacted by race as the decline in marriage rates has been significantly greater for racial minorities than for non-minorities. This study explores the divergence of marriage patterns on the basis of the visible minority hypothesis, which suggests that visible minority status itself, as a proxy for race will be significant in the first union process. The data were drawn from the 2006 General Social Survey (N= 19,983 men and women). The effects of visible minority status, socioeconomic factors, region, and other cultural markers are explored using Cox’s proportional hazard modeling. The findings suggest that standard economic models are insufficient in explaining differentials in the entry into the first union for visible minorities. That is, visible minority status has an independent effect on the entry into the first union. / Graduate

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The purpose of this study is to use family stress theory to examine the relationship between age at first marriage and marital quality and divorce. Age at marriage continues to increase and the demographics keep changing. Past research suggests that early age at marriage has been a contributing factor to divorce risk. Marital quality outcomes can also give us an idea of how well couples are faring in their marriages. This study employs a sample from a longitudinal, nationally representative investigation (CREATE), which has followed newlywed couples since 2016. The sub-sample for this study comes from wave one and includes 1,811 women and 1,649 men. Using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression, I analyzed sixteen marital stability and quality outcomes and age at first marriage models for men and women separately. Overall, there were only a few, weak, significant relationships between age at marriage and marital stability and quality outcomes, suggesting that age at first may not be a particularly robust indicator of marital success, perhaps because strong norms for the right age to marry have diminished and couples who marry early do so because they want to rather than feeling they have to. Therefore, practitioners can help couples focus on more significant factors than age for marital success.

The final thesis is focused on changes of familial habits of population with emphasis on married life. The aim of the thesis is to analyse the development of marriages from the demographic point of view. Attention will be brought to the progress of first marriages and to the quantity of complete families. The thesis will also cover the classification of demohraphic phenomenon on the basis of chosen indicators. The last part of the thesis includes the cohort analysis which is based on gender, age, year of marriage and marial status.

本研究欲以存活分析方式了解女性在結束最高學歷後，逐年進入初婚的可能性。台灣女性的初婚狀況在1980年後，逐漸由普遍成婚轉為遲婚、甚至不婚，尤其以高等教育女性的晚婚現象最為嚴重。一般來說，年輕的在學女性由於尚未具備獨立成家的經濟能力，進入初婚的比例相當的低。因此要等到結束最高學歷後才會進入初婚市場、考慮進入初婚。然而女性的初婚可能性會受到年齡帶來的社會規範與壓力影響，年齡越長，潛在的結婚對象也就越少，進入初婚的可能性越低。本研究想了解因為就學延後結束最高學歷年齡，而延遲進入初婚市場年齡的女性，她們的初婚可能性會有什麼變化？初婚可能性的年齡模式又是如何？透過存活分析，本研究結果發現：一、初婚可能性的分布形狀主要受到年齡影響，不同教育程度的分布形狀沒有明顯差異。二、進入初婚的年齡受到結束最高學歷時的年齡影響，結束最高學歷的年齡越晚，越晚進入初婚。三、受高等教育的女性在剛結束最高學歷教育後三年間進入婚姻的可能性，較未受高等教育的女性高。四、不論何種教育程度，初婚可能性將於30歲左右一致地下降，顯示女性進入初婚的可能性仍受到適婚年齡的限制。五、越晚近出生的女性，初婚可能性越低。最晚近出生的女性，初婚可能性不論教育程度呈現普遍皆低的狀態。 / This study foucuses on the women who were born in 1960-1980 in Taiwan and demonstrates the probability of these women's first marriage after finishing their highest educational degrees. In Taiwan, after 1980, women's marital status gradually changes from general married become delayed, or even not married. The marital situations of women who have higher education are in particular serious. Because young women in the school do not have independent economic ability, they do not consider entering first marriage untill they have completed highest educational degrees. However, due to the age norm and social pressure, women's probability of entering into first marriage will decline when they grow older. This study intends to figure out what the probabilitiy of women's first marriage is when they delay the timing of entering into the marriage market due to prolonging the years of education. Through survival analysis, this study found that: First, women's age determines the main shape of the probability distribution of the age at first marriage no matter what educational degrees they have. Second, women's age at first marriage is mainly affected by the age of her finishing highest education. Third, the probability of first marriage of the women who have higher educational degrees is higher than the others in the first five years after finishing education. Fourth, no matter what level of educational degrees, the hazard rate of entering into first marriage will decline rapidly after 30-year-old. Fifth, the more recent birth cohort is the lower the probability of first marriage no mater what educational degrees they have.