One topic that seems often to be on the minds of students at Brigham Young University is marriage. We were interested in seeing if there is a difference in opinion between students from Utah and those from outside of Utah on what the ideal age of marriage should be. We used a Qualtrics survey online to gather data from a variety of BYU students of different areas of study including family life, European studies, engineering, exercise science, geography, and religion. We had 259 participants. This included 82 males and 177 females, both married and single. Our survey asked background questions, opinions on the ideal age of marriage, and ratings of “marriage readiness” characteristics. We analyzed the data using correlation coefficients. There was a very weak positive relationship between state of origin and view on ideal age of marriage. We did find that BYU students rate financial independence and a college degree as important characteristics to prepare someone for marriage.
Introduction
The population we decided to study was students at Brigham Young University, married and unmarried, male and female. We used a convenience sample; however, we tried our best to get responses from a variety of students. We surveyed students from family life, European studies, engineering, exercise science, geography, and religion. We also surveyed three singles’ wards, including one freshman ward.
There are a few different reasons we were interested in conducting this study. First, students at Brigham Young University seem to be more focused on marriage and dating than students at other universities. There is pressure coming from family, religious leaders, and peers to get married. The age that these people think is ideal may vary depending on...
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...ily Journal [serial online]. July 2011; 19(3):274-280. doi:10.1177/1066480711406678
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finally the opportune moment for individuals to build a stable family that previous decades of depression, war, and domestic conflicts had restricted. We see that this decade began with a considerable drop in divorce rates and rise in marriage rates, which is often assumed as the result of changed attitudes and values. However, this situation cannot be only just attributed to women’s
DeVault, C., Cohen, T., & Strong, B. (2011). The marriage and family experience: Intimate relationships in a changing society. (11th ed., pgs. 400-426). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth cengage learning.
Their premise is that emerging adulthood is a relatively recent phenomenon. According to the respondents of the older focus group, the average age of marriage in the 1950’s was lower by a factor of approximately 7 years (Ansari and Klinenberg 7). Several factors account for this which are part of the lack of an emerging adulthood phase. The world was quite simply a much smaller place. People’s life experiences were often defined in terms of city blocks as opposed to miles or geographic regions. Also, marriage represented type of liberation. Most young people lived at home with their parents until they entered the marriage and job
Cohabitation, over the last two decades has gone from being a relatively uncommon social phenomenon to a commonplace one and has achieved this prominence quite quickly. A few sets of numbers convey both the change and its rapidity. The percentage of marriages preceded by cohabitation rose from about 10% for those marrying between 1965 and 1974 to over 50% for those marrying between 1990 and 1994 (Bumpass and Lu 1999, Bumpass & Sweet 1989); the percentage is even higher for remarriages. Secondly, the percentage of women in their late 30s who report having cohabited at least once rose from 30% in 1987 to 48% in 1995. Given a mere eight year tome window, this is a striking increase. Finally, the proportion of all first unions (including both marriages and cohabitation) that begin as cohabitations rose from 46% for unions formed between 1980 and 1984 to almost 60% for those formed between 1990 and 1994 (Bumpass and Lu 1999).
Marriage is the legal or formally recognized union of a man and a woman, or two people or the same sex as partners in a relationship. Marriage rates in the United States have changed drastically since the last 90’s and early 2000 years (Cherlin 2004). Marital decline perspective and marital resilience perspective are the two primary perspectives and which we believe are the results from the decline. The marital decline perspective is the view that the American culture has become increasingly individualistic and preoccupied with personal happiness (Amato, 2004). The change in attitudes has changed the meaning of marriage as a whole, from a formal institution
Over the past three decades these ideals, although they are still recognizable, have been drastically modified across all social classes. Women have joined the paid labor force in great numbers stimulated both by economic need and a new belief in their capabilities and right to pursue opportunities. Americans in 1992 are far more likely than in earlier times to postpone marriage. Single parent families--typically consisting of a mother with no adult male and very often no other adult person present-have become common. Today at least half of all marriages end in divorce (Gembrowski 3). Most adults no longer believe that couples should stay married because divorce might harm their children. Of course, these contemporary realities have great consequential impact on mother-ch...
Marriage and divorce are culturally ruled, as I have noted from my interviews with friends and family of different cultures who have married, perhaps some have divorced, and with each experience in love they have culturally accepted values that pertain to their overall ideals and values on love, marriage, shared values, etc. The purpose of this paper is to establish a clear understanding of human nature as it relates to the portrait of adulthood and mate selection; institution of marriage, procreation, and even divorce as it relates to acceptance of failed expectations and moving on. I was not surprised to learn that the people I interviewed were traditional in their beliefs that marriage is a serious commitment that should be respected and approached for longevity.
Many aspects of the traditional family and marriage have changed, in fact, a 2014 survey taken by the Pew Research Center revealed that less than half of children (aged 17 and younger) in the United States are living in a “traditional” household (Livingston). The median age at which individuals are marrying has also seen a drastic change. In the 1950s, the average age at marriage was 23 for men and 20 for women, historic lows (Cherlin 183). As of 2014, the median age at marriage was 29 for men and 27 for women (U.S. Census
Sobolewski, Juliana M., and Paul R. Amato. 2007. "Parents' Discord and Divorce, Parent-Child Relationships and Subjective Well-Being in Early Adulthood: Is Feeling Close to Two Parents Always Better than Feeling Close to One?." Social Forces 85, no. 3: 1105-1124. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed March 8, 2011).
It is not a new thought that today’s young Americans are facing issues, problems and difficult decisions that past generations never had to question. In a world of technology, media, and a rough economy, many young adults in America are influenced by a tidal wave of opinions and life choices without much relevant advice from older generations. The Generation Y, or Millennial, group are coming of age in a confusing and mixed-message society. One of these messages that bombard young Americans is the choice of premarital cohabitation. Premarital cohabitation, or living together without being married (Jose, O’Leary & Moyer, 2010), has increased significantly in the past couple of decades and is now a “natural” life choice before taking the plunge into marriage. Kennedy and Bumpass (2008) state that, “The increase in cohabitation is well documented,such that nearly two thirds of newlyweds have cohabited prior to their first marriage”(as cited in Harvey, 2011, p. 10), this is a striking contrast compared with statistics of our grandparents, or even parents, generations. It is such an increasing social behavior that people in society consider cohabitation “necessary” before entering into marriage. Even more, young Americans who choose not to cohabitate, for many different reasons, are looked upon as being “old-fashioned”, “naive”, or “unintelligent”. This pressure for young people to cohabitate before marriage is a serious “modern-day” challenge; especially when given research that states, “... most empirical studies find that couples who cohabited prior to marriage experience significantly higher odds of marital dissolution than their counterparts who did not cohabit before marriage”, stated by Jose (2010) and colleagues (as c...
In the article “Grounds for Marriage: How Relationships Succeed or Fail” by Arlene Skolnick talks a lot about how the attitudes towards marriages now a days is much different then what peoples attitudes have been in the past. The article talks about how there are two parts of every marriage “the husband’s and the wife’s”. This article touches on the affects cohabitation, and how cohabitation is more likely to happen among younger adults. This article talks about how the younger adults are more inclined to cohabitate before marriage, and that currently the majority of couples that are interring in to marriage have previously lived together. The article stats that some of the Possible reasons for couples to live together before marriage might include shifting norms
Wallace, P. M., & Gotlib, I. H. (1990). Marital adjustment during the transition to parenthood: Stability and predictors of change. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 52, 21-29. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/352834
" Golden Anniversary Reflections: Changes in Marriages After Fifty Years. Family Law Quarterly 42.3: 333-52. Family Studies Abstracts -. Web.
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. “Pathways to Adulthood and Marriage: Teenagers’ Attitudes, Expectations, and Relationship Patterns” Aspe.hhs.gov Web. 17 Nov. 2010.
Statistics show that in 1998, 2,256,000 couples became married, and 1,135,000 couples became divorced (Fast 1,2). For every two couples getting married, there is one that is getting divorced. In fact, half of ALL marriages end in divorce (Ayer 41). That is a sad reality to face. Those percentage rates increase as the age of the participant’s decrease. It seems these days, fewer and fewer teens between the ages of 14 and 18 are getting married. This is a change for the better. Teens are usually not prepared for marriage. Marriage comes with many responsibilities; most of which teens are not prepared to handle. “Early marriage, though possessing certain inherent dangers, is widely practiced in contemporary America” (Teenage 1). Even if teens feel they have the potential for a lasting marriage, they should still wait to become married.