Marital Meaning: Exploring Young Adults’ Belief Systems About Marriage

The purpose of the study is to examine the meaning that the institution of marriage can hold for young, unmarried adults, based on their systems (or collections) of beliefs about marriage. Based on symbolic interactionism, it is argued that marital meaning has implications for how people behave prior to and during marriage that may relate to marital functioning. A qualitative content analysis of scholarly literature reveals that marital meaning is multifaceted and can be conceptualized as including five distinct dimensions. A confirmatory factor analysis identifies beliefs that are scaled to represent their respective dimensions. A cluster analysis categorizes participants into three groups based on participants’ scores along these dimensions. Similarities and distinctions across the three groups are discussed to highlight the complexity of belief systems that young adults can have about the institution of marriage.