Age spread at marriage

The duration of marriages and the frequency of the same determine a considerable incidence in the society in which individuals live and relate. In principle, nuptiality has maintained a certain constancy over time, but the occurrence of a series of war events has caused a limited reduction. However, starting from the Seventies, the propensity to marry gradually began to decline in a generalized manner, determining an increase in the average age at marriage. Its determination is influenced by multiple factors. They are identifiable in the wider diffusion of: mixed marriages, that is, those marriages formed by a spouse of different nationality, race or religion; dissolution of marriages, following divorce or widowhood, and the likelihood of remarriage for divorcees or widowers; degree of education, which determines a postponement of the marriage at the end of the studies undertaken and, consequently, to a more advanced age; civil rite, which records a considerable overtaking of the religious rite; different types of family, such as cohabitation more uxorio, premarital cohabitation, recomposed families, single parents, civil unions; precariousness, youth unemployment, difficulties in finding a job, a home; increase in schooling and extension of training periods; prolonged stay of young people within their family of origin. The characteristic common to all societies can be seen in the age gap, that is, in the age difference that exists between the spouses, which has undergone multiple fluctuations. Therefore, based on the combination of age, the type of couple has changed. In fact, in the sixties homogamous couples are much more frequent; in the seventies there is, however, the prevalent spread of the hypergamous model, which provides for an age difference of about three years in favor of the groom. At the same time there is also the spread of the hypogamous model, which provides for an age difference in favor of the bride. The age combination of the spouses changes according to the origin of the partners and appears substantially connected to two factors of considerable importance. In fact, as shown by the Istat data, the prevalent couples are hypergamic ones, within which it is possible to detect a high rate of fertility and mortality. Although the differential mortality rate is higher for men, at the same time men are characterized by a high birth rate, so widowers or divorcees are more likely to remarry than women.