Analysis of Non-cognitive Factors of Marital Status

It is known that non-cognitive factors are equally as valid as predictors of different life-important events as cognitive and socio-economic factors. The aim of this work is to determine the relationship between non-cognitive characteristics and the marital status. Non-cognitive factors were considered according to the Big Five personality traits taxonomy which includes conscientiousness, openness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. The Fine-Gray model was chosen as the main instrument of the analysis as it allows regressors to vary in time, and also considers multiple options when it comes to potential consequences of the event. Using this model, the chances of a specific event can be obtained under the condition that a person hasn’t had an event of that type in the past. Four models were assessed using RLMS HSE paneled data from 1994 to 2022. Three models consider the fact of entering in a new relationship (first union, a higher-order union after divorce or widowhood) with two potential outcomes – marriage and cohabitation. One model is used to analyze union disruption either due to divorce or loss of a partner. It was shown that entering in the first or higher-order marriage is linked to conscientiousness, while a higher level of extraversion contributes to the risk of first cohabiting relationship or subsequent cohabitation with another person after divorce. When it comes to the model of relationship disruption, no statistically significant link was found with the outcome of widowhood, meanwhile extraversion was shown to be connected with the risk of divorce. In the model analyzing the possibility of new relationship after loss of a partner, entering into subsequent marriage is linked to the level of neuroticism, while openness is related to entering into a new cohabiting relationship. Thus, the statistically significant relationship between non-cognitive factors and the behavior on the marital market has been revealed, which allows to consider the inclusion of these characteristics in future papers.