Marriage Intentions among Never Married Japanese Individuals

Sayaka Kawamura, Bowling Green State University

The average age at first marriage has been steadily increasing in Japan (Raymo & Iwasawa, 2008), and recent studies (Kaneko et al., 2008; Raymo & Iwasawa, 2008) find that some singles remain unmarried because they have not found marriage partners yet. The proportions of those who never marry also have been increasing, particularly among men (Raymo & Iwasawa, 2008). Nevertheless, marriage intentions among older singles have received little attention. Using data on never married individuals from the Japan 2000 National Survey on Family and Economic Conditions (Tsuya, Bumpass, & Rindfuss, 2008, n = 1,866), this study investigates marriage intentions among Japanese men and women, including younger (ages 20-34) and older (35-49) singles. Specifically, I examine whether and how individual characteristics, including age, socioeconomic status, gender role attitudes, and the most importance aspects of life (i.e., success in work, spending time with family), are associated with marriage intentions.