| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺北教育大學 === 社會與區域發展學系碩士班 === 106 === Life course perspective was adopted in this qualitative study with in-depth interviews designed to identify the personal and external reasons why women in their thirties in Taiwan are willing to marry but marry late and their perceived advantages for late marriage.
The average age of first marriage was 30 for women in Taiwan in 2016. Women pregnant at or after the age of 35 are in the advanced maternal age group from a medical perspective. Considering these two figures, this study interviewed with five single women approaching or just passing the age of 35, born between 1979 and 1988. Our study found that their choice of delaying marriage was affected by their personal reasons, social and family backgrounds, personal life experiences and accumulated favorable and unfavorable conditions. Difficulty of employment after marriage, attachment to romantic relationship and the lack of consideration for love life were factors leading to delayed marriage based on our interview results. Besides, the most influential external reasons of delayed marriage were one’s significant others in lives being her or her partner’s mother or her partner. Finally, they indicated that the advantages of delaying marriage were to enjoy longer free life, to develop more mature concepts about partner selection, and more time to build their economic power in order to protect their future autonomy in marriage.
Some major differences between our findings and those of past literature were identified. The women in their thirties in this study were late-maturing. Their significant others had deeper involvement in their marriage decision. Their belief in romantic relationship cannot be urged. These reasons led to their decision of delaying marriage. It is obvious that different generations have different life landscapes, and the factors of late marriage are slightly different.
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