Original scientific paper
Students’ Attitudes Toward Cohabitation and Marriage
Andreja Bartolac
orcid.org/0000-0002-9472-5154
; University of Applied Health Studies, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The aim of empirical research presented in this paper was to examine students’ attitudes toward cohabitation and marriage. The correlation between selected socio-demographic characteristics and respondents’ attitudes was also measured. Convenience sampling was used to select 417 students between 18 and 36 years of age. Students were asked to mark their responses on the “Scale for measuring attitudes towards cohabitation and marriage”, which consisted of 17 statements. Overall, students have moderately positive attitudes towards cohabitation. A statistically significant difference was found between the majority of students who favor attitudes towards cohabitation as a preparation for marriage and those who view cohabitation as a form of permanent living arrangements between partners. There was no statistically significant difference between female and male students in attitudes toward cohabitation. Regarding other socio-demographic variables, the degree of religiosity was a statistically significant predictor so that extremely religious students expressed least favorable attitudes toward cohabitation. Students have ambivalent attitudes toward marriage, with 60.4% who think that “marriage is not an outdated institution” and 68% who find it “acceptable for an unmarried couple to live together even without the intention of ever getting married”. Statistically significant differences were found between genders on four statements. Male students are more inclined to agree with the statements that “living together before marriage improves couple’s chances for a happy marriage” and that “marriage is an outdated institution”. Female students are more likely to agree with the statement that “good marriage and family life are extremely important”. Female students also express some of their concerns by agreeing more with the statement that “there are not many successful and happy marriages today so one must wonder whether it is the right way of life”.
Keywords
attitudes scale; cohabitation; marriage; students
Hrčak ID:
114867
URI
Publication date:
15.1.2014.
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