Abstract
“No one was born out of a bamboo tube”. This old saying can surely hammer the importance of family to people’s lives since we were born, live and die in families! Then, what is happening to this one of the most ancient human institutions? In this concept paper presentation, I will lead the discussion focusing on family formation, which is “marriage”.
One worldwide recent trend in marriage is that people extend the time of being single or delay marriage and get married at some later ages than in the past, some extend until they eventually being single permanently (celibacy).The Singulate Mean Age at Marriage (SMAM) or average years that married people had spent single before marriage of Thai population had risen from 24.7 years for male and 22 years for female in 1970 to be 27.3 and 24 for male and female in 2000.
Proportion single of both Thai male and female has also been increasing in every age group, especially at age 30-34 years and older. In 1960, 25.2 percent of Thai male aged 25-29 was never married. But in 2000 the proportion had almost doubled to 43.9 percent. It was also twofold in female (14.1 percent compared to 28.7 percent).
What is underlying these changes in marriage in Thai context? Who delay and who don’t? And why a rural setting naming Kanchanaburi province is of interest of this study? We will together explore based on ideas like modernization and second demographic transition for example, and finally discuss probability of ways to design this study in this session.
Moderator: Dr.Jongjit Rittirong
February 25, 2015 Time: 13:30 – 14:30 hrs. Room 326 (Rajawadee)
