Female schooling and marriage age in India

Premchand Dommaraju, National University of Singapore

Schooling is seen as a catalyst for changes in marriage patterns. This study examines the various pathways through which schooling could influence entry into marriage using panel data from the Indian censuses. The results suggest that schooling is positively associated with marriage age, with women in districts with high levels of schooling delaying entry into marriage. However, results from the panel models suggest no relationship between schooling and marriage rates. Taken together these two findings suggest that the association between schooling and marriage rates seen in the cross-sectional analyses might have been due to common unobserved factor influencing both schooling and marriage. Additionally, the findings also reveal the absence of endogeneity in this relationship. The results from the instrument variable models suggest that marriage age has no influence on schooling levels.