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Italian data - and to a lesser extent also the data in many other european countries - exhibit a continous and perpetual increase in the mean age of marriage. Therefore, it seems reasonable to assume that this is not just a result of individual preferences but rather an indicator of a change in social norms.
The aim of this model is to quantify the hazard function of marriage within the framework of an agent based model. The agents are specified by age, gender, and spatial location. Moreover, the individuals are influenced by their social network (their relevant others) which my cause social pressure. We show that agents of the same age and gender may differ in their behaviour since they may be subject to different social influence mechanisms. |