Artiklen undersøger Oppenheimers teori om tidspunktet for ægteskab ved at analysere data fra 13 europæiske lande (1994-2001). Den vurderer mænds økonomiske status, herunder uddannelse, beskæftigelse og indkomst, og deres indflydelse på overgangen til ægteskab og samliv. Resultaterne understøtter både manden som forsørger-hypotesen og Oppenheimers hypotese om karrier usikkerhed, men effekterne varierer afhængigt af nationale kontekster og kønsroller i samfundet.
Titel på undersøgelse:
The Influence of Men’s Income and Employment on Marriage and Cohabitation: Testing Oppenheimer’s Theory in Europe.
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Hele abstrakt på originalsprog:
This article discusses Oppenheimer’s theory on marriage timing, reviews the way this theory was received in European demography and family sociology, and develops a new test of the theory using annual panel data from 13 European countries for the period 1994–2001. Several indicators of men’s economic status are used, including school enrollment, employment, type of labor contract, work experience, income, and education. Effects of these indicators are estimated for the transition to marriage and cohabitation, as well as for the transition from cohabitation to marriage. Country differences in these effects are examined as well. The evidence provides strong support for the male breadwinner hypothesis on the one hand, and for Oppenheimer’s career uncertainty hypothesis on the other. However, the relevance of these hypotheses also depends on the national context, and especially on the way gender roles are divided in a society.