The Trend of the Marriage Rate in Rural North Carolina.

This article discusses trends of the marriage rate based on the study of 1,703 families located in open-country areas of five North Carolina counties. The trend in the marriage rate of a given population may be determined from a simple population census. Two basic items of information that are needed are the year of birth and year of first marriage. It was found that, during the period from 1915 to 1919 the marriage rate of the relief population was 13.0 per 100, as compared with a nonrelief rate of only 8.1. The difference of 4.9 is approximately four times its standard error of 1.2. Among the non-relief population, where incomes are higher and more secure, marriage rates were found to be closely related to the business cycle. It was seen that the marriage rate of the non-relief population rose substantially in 1933; whereas the marriage rate of households continued to decline. This study, it has been emphasized, analyzes the marriage rates of only the living population and its increase in a given area. All migrants from the area who are offspring of parents living in the area are included; but migrants having no parental home in the area could not be included.