Do Attending Universities in the Capital Region Delay the Age of Marriage?

This study analyzes whether students from non-capital regions experience a delay in the age of first marriage when they attend universities in the capital region. Using propensity score matching and survival analysis, we investigate this phenomenon. To ensure the homogeneity between the treatment group and control group, we consider individuals who attended universities in the capital region as the entire sample. Among them, the treatment group consists of individuals who relocated to the capital region for university education, while the control group consists of individuals who did not relocate to the capital region for education. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis reveals that individuals who relocated to the capital region for university education experience a later age of first marriage. Cox proportional hazards model analysis also indicates that the experience of relocating to the capital region is significant across all models and lowers the marriage rate by approximately 70-75% in each interval. This suggests that individuals from non-capital region high schools who enter the capital region for university education face challenges that affect their marriage preparations negatively. These challenges include the time required for adaptation, disadvantages in terms of local information, and potentially higher living costs such as rent. Therefore, it can be inferred that the difficulties encountered during university years have a negative impact on marriage preparations.