Settled or to Settle

<p class="ql-align-justify">Marriage is a long-standing social institution that is often perceived as a source of personal fulfilment for couples and a marker of familial pride. Traditionally, marriage has been framed as an exchange in which husbands assume the role of economic provider, while wives take responsibility for domestic labor. However, contemporary economic pressures and shifting gender expectations have increasingly drawn women, including in Indonesia, into the workforce, reshaping how individuals evaluate readiness for marriage. This quantitative study aims to explore the extent to which gender provides unique interaction patterns between economic stability and individual marriage intention. A total of 134 participants (<em>M</em><sub><em>age</em></sub><em> </em>= 26.35; <em>SD</em> = 5.15) completed an online survey. The findings indicate that perceived economic stability significantly predicts marriage intention among single men. Additionally, age emerged as the strongest predictor of marriage intention for men, whereas educational attainment was the strongest predictor for women. Overall, the study highlights that men’s marriage intentions remain closely tied to their sense of economic readiness, whereas women’s intentions may be shaped by different developmental considerations.</p>