School at endance and marriage: a sequence analysis of educational and marital trajectories in Mexico City and Buenos Aires

This study analyzes the interaction of marital trajectories and educational attendance throughout the life course before and after the first conjugal union of men and women in Buenos Aires and Mexico City, born between 1973 and 1982, from ages 12 to 35. Sequence analysis is used to evidence how school attendance and marital trajectories interact during adolescence and early adulthood and assess differences between men and women in both cities. Sequences of men and women were statistically different. However, they shared some common features. Both men and women did not usually combine the role of student and spouse throughout the life course. There was low school attendance after the first union, even if the union dissolved.