MARRIAGE AND COHABITATION IN A CHANGING SOCIETY - EXPERIENCE OF NORWEGIAN MEN AND WOMEN BORN IN 1945 AND 1960

Retrospective survey data are used to estimate the effect of various f actors on the transitions to first marriage or first cohabitation amon g single Norwegian men and women born in 1945 and 1960. A high educati onal level is not found to reduce marriage intensities for women, alth ough educational enrollment appears to be less compatible with marriag e for women than men. The effect of employment varies according to pre vailing sex-role expectations. The data support the assumption that mo dem cohabitation developed from two socially opposite origins, the edu cated elite and the working class. A social value dimension is assumed to have a major effect upon the present-day choice between marriage a nd cohabitation.