Understanding Educational Sequences and Their Consequences on the Timing of Marriage

Abstract

This study examines educational sequences and their consequences on the timing of marriage using the life history data from the 1983 Korean National Migration Survey. A discrete-time logit analysis is adopted for estimating the impact of educational sequences on marriage timing. I find that the educational process in Korea becomes stabilized and institutionalized during middle and high schooling as middle and high school education becomes a mass experience. However, both men and women are likely to undergo a disorderly sequence during the transition period from high school to college due to the very fierce college entrance examination. Men are also likely to experience a disorderly sequence before or after military service. Both men and women who experience an interruption in their schooling after graduation from high school have lesser odds of getting married than those who keep their educational process orderly.