[A study on the stability of first marriage for married women of childbearing age in Taiwan area--an exploration from the age of first marriage, dimensions of premarried pregnancy, and the way of marriage decision-making].

: The divorce rate is rapidly getting higher in Taiwan Area. This forms a great shock in Taiwan Area where marriage has generally been stable all the time. The new situation brings a certain degree of pressure and even panic to married couples, and makes unmarried persons fear that they will never be married. People do not know how to adjust to the new situation. Higher and higher divorce rates have become a significant social problem. This paper examines the degree of stability of 1st marriages among married women of childbearing age in Taiwan Area. The data used are from "A Survey of Practice of Induced Abortion Among Married Women in Taiwan Area." The survey collected data from more than 12,000 women, including information on age at 1st marriage, premarital pregnancy, and ways of decision making in marriage. The relationships between these factors and marriage continuation and remarriage are analyzed. The proportions of marriage disintegration of subgroups were weighted according to number of years after 1st marriage, which is related to the degree of danger in marriage disintegration. The Chi-square test was used to test for statistically significant differences. Results show that 1st marriage is more dangerous for those who got pregnant before engagement or before marriage without engagement, who married before age 20, who married very late, or who made decisions about marriage themselves. 1st marriage tends to be stable for those who got pregnant after marriage or after engagement, who got married ages 20 and 29, and who made decisions about marriage jointly with their parents.