A gross mating table for a West Indian population

ABSTRACT

At a sample survey carried out in Trinidad in 1958 data were collected on the participation of women in three union types "visiting", "common law" and "married". It is assumed that the maximum number of changes of union type in which a woman is involved is three. From the survey material the chances of non-East Indian women moving from one type of union to another as they pass through the childbearing span (taken here as 14 to 45) are calculated. These chances are used to construct a table showing the types of unions in which a cohort of 10 000 women are involved between ages 14 to 45. This table makes possible the estimation of the length of time spent by the average woman in the three union types as well as the time spent in the "single" state, the numbers of women participating in these union types at different ages and the stability of these types of union. This table emphasizes that despite the fact that the "visiting" type is very important at lower ages, there is a progressive concentration in "married and "common law" types with advance in age, and by age 45 more than half the women are "married" and about one-fifth are in "common law" associations. It also shows that the average woman spends the longest period of childbearing life in the "married" state (9.6 years), the shortest time in "visiting" unions (4.1 years) and 5.9 years in "common law" unions. Stability is strongest in the case of the "married" type and lowest for the "visiting"; this, however, may be viewed not so much as evidence of family disorganization, but as a progressive shift from a less stable to a more stable union type. (Summary)