本研究目地在於探討戶籍登記之婚姻狀況與民眾自述的婚姻狀況具有何種程度的差異所代表的意義。根據台北地區750位登記不同婚姻狀況之中老年社區民眾訪視結果發現自述婚姻不符者達87位，其中登記為已婚及喪偶者之自述狀況幾乎完全吻合。然而登記為未婚及離婚者卻有1/3自述婚姻不符，且大部份以「已婚」為其回答。根據居住狀況的探討則發現大部份不符者之居住狀況符合其「自述」婚姻狀況，出現了法定／實質婚姻差異之現象，而僅少數登記離婚自述喪偶者(尤其以女性為多)，其實際生活亦未有配偶出現，此現象則可能為避免社會壓力而產生之「自述偏差」行為。

This paper assessed the difference between “registered”and “self-reported” marital status. 750 Taipei residents were selected and interviewed. The results showed that 87 of them reported a marital status differing from their registered marital status. The most of the unmatched cases occurred among those registered “single”and “divorced”and most of them reported “married”. The living arrangment conditions of those unmatched cases indicated that discrepancies are due to de jural/de facto”differences. However, a number of registered divorced but reported widowed women cases lived without spouses and were suspected to present a “report bias”problem.