Educational Expansion and Changes in Womens Entry Into Marriage and Motherhood in the Federal-Republic-Of-Germany

Abstract

This article empirically assesses the question of whether women's growing economic independence, resulting from better education, is a major factor in the rise in delayed marriage and motherhood. New panel data from the (former) Federal Republic of Germany show that women's increasing educational attainment can explain part of the changes in the process of family formation. The delaying effect of educational expansion on the timing of first marriage is, however, limited to the phase of transition from youth to adulthood. Better educated women only marry later, and get their first child later.