Opinions of educated youth towards age at marriage and difference in age between partners
Patravali, P.; Gaonkar, V.
Indian Journal of Behaviour 15(2): 35-39
1991
ISSN/ISBN: 0970-0897 PMID: 12286491 Document Number: 326176
Professors conducted a survey of 160 18-24 year old students attending 4 colleges of Dharwad city of Karnataka in India to examine their opinion concerning ideal marriage age and age difference between spouses. Females tended to prefer a higher marriage age for males than did males (26.5 vs. 25.5), but the difference was not significant. Rural males believed the ideal marriage age for females be 20 years whereas rural females believed it to be 22 years (p .05). Urban females also believed it to be 22 years and urban males reported 21 years. Most students (57.5%), especially 18-19 year olds (77.5%) and females (61.77% vs. 56.36% for males), said the ideal age difference between spouses was under 5 years. Students who were at least 24 years old tended to state 5-10 (60%). Males also preferred this age difference (42.06% vs. 38.23% for females). 2 20-23 year old male students believed the ideal age difference to be more than 10 years. Students' age was significantly associated with their opinion on the ideal age difference between spouses (p .05). Students from extended families and rural areas tended to prefer a 5-10 year age difference between the spouses with a few mentioning more than 10 years whereas students from nuclear families and urban areas preferred under 5 years with no one mentioning more than 10 years (p .05). These results indicated that both males and females prefer to marry after they have completed their education. The advantages of schooling including improved thinking and decision-making abilities allow them to wisely allocate family resources and decide upon an ideal family size.