Marital Beliefs of Young Adults

Over the past decade, cohabitation has become gradually pervasive. Because of this, debates between cohabitation and marriage have risen, in regard to what cohabitation means for individual and for the institution of marriage itself. Using the data gathered from 156 respondents and the instrument developed by Hall (2006), the researcher made a study by exploring the marital beliefs –self-fulfillment vs. obligation, role hierarchy vs. role parallelism, special status vs. neutral alternative, romanticism vs. pragmatism, and mutuality vs. individuality - of married and cohabiting young adults in a community. The results show that young adults differ in marital beliefs when grouped according to educational attainment; also, many young adults viewed marriage as the highest commitment a couple can make, and an essential submission and integration of personalities, though some individuals seen partners as more self-governing with little reliance and/or limitation of independence. ANOVA results indicate that marital beliefs of young adults do differ significantly on mutuality vs. individuality and special status vs. neutral alternative dimensions. The findings confirm the theoretical assumption that marital meaning has implications for how people behave prior to and during marriage that may relate to marital functioning.