This study attempts to fill the gap in the knowledge on differences between rural and urban areasrnregarding family formation and family dissolution. The analysis is based on primary data collectedrnfrom Debrezeit and the surrounding rural areas in April 1999.rnThe analysis is framed in such a way that rural-urban place of residence is assumed to exert itsrninfluence on the two dependent variables through Its influence on the explanatory variables. Therntwo dependent variables are family formation and family dissolution, the indicators of which arernage at first marriage and stability of first marriages, respectively.rnThe methods of analysis used include the univariate, bivariate, and the multivariate techniques. Inrnaddition, A. J. Coale's model nuptiality indices were used to estimate and compare first marriagernfrequencies, the speed or tempo of first marriages, and the proportion that ultimately marries inrnDebrezeit and the rural areas surrounding it.rnThe results of analyses reveal that urban girls marry at an average age of 17.71 years while theirrnrural counterparts marry at an average age of 15.59 years. A look at the trend in age at firstrnmarriage in the last three to four decades shows that mean age at first marriage increased by aboutrnone and a half years among the rural respondents while it did so by about two years among thernurban respondents. Singulate mean age at marriage is found to be positively associated with levelrnof education both among the rural and the urban respondents.rnThe indices of Coale's model nuptiality computed for this study indicate that rural females startrnand finish marrying for the first time earlier than their urban counterparts.rnConsistent with the univariate and the bivariate analyses, the analysis of variance shows that meanrnage at first marriage varied significantly by level of education, the way first marriages werernarranged, migration status, and stability of parental unions before first marriages of thernrespondents. Similarly, the results of multiple classification analysis show that illiterates, thosernwho had their first marriages arranged by their families, those who were abducted, other ethnicrngroups than the Oromos, rural respondents, those who were not courted before their firstrnmarriages, migrants, those unemployed before their first marriages, and those whose parents werernin marital union married earlier than the grand mean age of marriage.rnResults of the logistic regression analysis indicate that place of residence, courtship before firstrnmarriage, husband's education level and age at first marriage, current age, migration statu.Â§, age atrnfirst marriage, and CEB in first marriage were selected from among other explanatory variables byrnthe backward stepwise method to have significant relationship with stability of first marriages.rnIt is recommended that governmental and other concerned bodies design methods through whichrnthe variables which are found to significantly influence age at first marriage and stability of thosernmarriages may be influenced so that ages at first marriages and stability of first marriages will bernbrought to desirable levels.