Marriage and Family Attitudes of Modern Youth

The article analyses the problem of studying the psychological readiness of young people for marriage and family relationships, namely: the psychological structure of young people’s ideas about family roles, factors in choosing a marriage partner, forms of marriage, and motives for marriage. It is important to note that the marriage and family orientations of young people as a component of psychological readiness for marriage and family interaction are a dynamic characteristic that reflects social changes. The essence of the concept of attitude as a key concept of the topic is that we interpret it as an individual’s attitude towards certain social objects or their features, which allows us to predict possible forms of individual behavior in certain situations. As a result of an empirical study of the marriage and family attitudes of young people, it was revealed that they are dominated by traditional attitudes regarding the importance of the family as the main form of social interaction, the prevailing orientation of young people towards registered marriage. Regarding the distribution of power and functions in the family, the surveyed students expressed an egalitarian approach. The highest positions in the ranking of the importance of factors for a successful marriage are: mutual love, interest, mutual understanding, support and marital fidelity. The students named loyalty, honesty, and respect as desirable traits for a marriage partner, which indicates the respondents’ orientation toward a spousecentered marriage. The survey revealed a prevalence of a low level of readiness among young people for marriage and family life among the research sample. The factors that most influence the position of young people regarding their attitude towards marriage and family life are: the example of their parents, the personal qualities of the spouses, and young people’s ideas about the ideal of a husband and wife. In general, a predominance of progressive marriage and family orientations was found among the surveyed youth.