Understanding the Intended Age at Marriage: The Effect of Beijing College Students' Attitudes Toward Love

ABSTRACT Objective This study investigates the effect of college students' attitudes toward love on their intended age at marriage. Background The intended age of marriage for college students is rising. Many determinants of college students' intended marriage age have received enough academic attention. However, less discussed is the effect of college students' attitudes toward love on their intended age at marriage. Method Drawing upon a representative Beijing college student survey and an array of econometric techniques, this paper applies the pragmatic–romantic love taxonomy and materialism theory to examine the effect of college students' attitudes toward love on their intended age at marriage. Results Estimation results show that college students' intended age at marriage increases as their attitudes toward love become more pragmatic. Specifically, a one‐unit increase in college students' attitudes toward love results in a 1.061‐year increase in their intended age at marriage. Aforementioned conclusions remain robust after a series of sensitivity tests. Further analyses indicate that pragmatic attitudes toward love delay marriage less for females but more for individuals with highly educated parents. Conclusion The above findings highlight the critical role of college students' attitudes toward love in their intended age of marriage. Implications These findings could have some implications for other Asian developing economies influenced by Confucian culture.