Sibship Characteristics and Transition to First Marriage in Taiwan: Explaining Gender Asymmetries Wei-hsin Yu • Kuo-hsien Su • Chi-Tsun Chiu Received: 6 July 2011 / Accepted: 20 April 2012 / Published online: 8 May 2012 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012 Abstract Sociologists have long been interested in the effects of sibship struc- tures. Although previous research generally focuses on the impacts of sibship characteristics on educational outcomes, these characteristics may also affect individuals’ decisions about marriage by shaping their resource availability, parental expectations, or social skills and contacts. Using a nationally represen- tative sample from Taiwan, we examine how sibship size, birth-order rank, and sibship sex composition are associated with men’s and women’s transitions to first marriage. The analysis shows that men who have no male siblings tend to accelerate their rates of entering marriage. By contrast, women with more siblings or in earlier birth positions are likely to do the same. We argue that the findings for women reflect the influences of sibship structures on household resource allocation, whereas those for men have to do with the cultural emphasis on sons’ responsibility for carrying on the family lineage. Moreover, Chinese cultural norms that prescribe different roles for married sons and daughters account for the asymmetrical mechanisms revealed for men and women in Taiwan. Results from this study thus underscore the need to consider family norms and cultural contexts in explaining the transition to marriage. W. Yu (&) Á C.-T. Chiu Department of Sociology, The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station, A1700, Austin, TX 78712, USA e-mail: whyu@mail.utexas.edu C.-T. Chiu e-mail: chitsun.chiu@mail.utexas.edu K. Su Department of Sociology, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Rd., Da-an Dist., Taipei 10617, Taiwan e-mail: khsu@ntu.edu.tw 123 Popul Res Policy Rev (2012) 31:609–636 DOI 10.1007/s11113-012-9236-7