Birth Order and Age at Marriage in the Arab Levant

The purpose of the present study was to test the cross-cultural validity of the relationship found in Western samples between birth order and age at marriage. Data on birth order and actual age at marriage were obtained through individual interviews with 84 Arab Moslem wives in Damascus, while data on birth order and ideal best-marriage-ages were obtained from a sample of 142 undergraduate Arab students at the American University of Beirut, consisting of 74 Christians and 68 Moslems. In general, the results showed no significant differences in mean actual ages at marriage between firstborn and later born wives or husbands. Furthermore, regardless of sex, no significant differences were found between firstborn and later born ideal best-marriage-ages. These findings throw doubt on the relationship found previously between birth order and age at marriage

Birth order · Firstborn · Ideal (ethics · Order (exchange · Political science · Population · Sociology · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Demography · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Psychology · Socioeconomic Development in MENA