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The present paper summarizes papers given at the 8th International Family Research Seminar in Oslo, Norway, 1963, which describe and explain differential frequencies of those decisions to marry which result in teenage marriage. Sociological analysis of marriage usually points out that age at marriage varies with the type of society and, therefore, reflects the stage of industrialization and urbanization. The lowest ages at marriage are generally found in peasant agricultural countries, such as India and China. During the rapid growth phase of urban industrial nations, age at marriage apparently rises, but later the age at marriage once again turns downward, though not rapidly. One way of viewing trends of teenage marriage is in terms of the percentage of males and females under 20 years of age involved in marriages contracted. During 1961, in 6% of all marriages contracted in Yugoslavia one or both spouses were under the age of 18. However, in such marriages the wife was under 18 years of age in 91 % of the cases, the husband in only 9 %. From 1953-1961 there was a gradual decrease in the percentage married under 18 years from 6.6 % to 6.0 %.

Manifold factors have been identified as causal mechanisms in social change, but an important one—temporality—has been neglected. Temporality is the social time that characterizes any society, and that social time is consequential for the rate and direction of change. The three dimensions of temporality are temporal pattern, temporal orientation, and temporal perspective. The differences between the Japanese and Chinese along these three dimensions help explain their differential responses to the 19th century Western challenge. Specifically, two propositions are examined in the light of the historical data: a society's temporality limits the range of adaptive responses to new circumstances, and the symbols of social time act as a mechanism of social control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]