The Influence of the Place of Residence on the Time of Marriage for Iranian Women

The main inquiry in this study is whether a woman’s place of residence can influence her time of marriage. Modernization, economic and gender equality theories have been employed to design an analytical model for this study and consequently to find a response to the research question. Iran Statistical Center carried out a project that collected socio-economic characteristics of Iranian households in 2001. The required data came from this source and all the women who married at least once were selected. The results of the t-test show that the average age of marriage of women differs significantly in rural (17.6) and urban (18.7) areas. There is a significant relationship between place of residence and other independent variables in the study. Highest correlation is reported between womens place of residence and their level of education, such that urban women have a higher level of education than rural women. On the other hand, there is no relationship between place of residence and womens age at marriage in a multiple regression model. This would lead us to conclude that place of residence has not a meaningful influence on the age of marriage but other variables like level of education can influence age of marriage through the place of residence.