Premarital Factors Influencing Perceived Readiness for Marriage

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Abstract
The purpose of this article is to add to our understanding of the multiple factors related to young adults' perceptions of their readiness for marriage. A theoretical model was developed to test the simultaneous effects of variables suggested by previous research and theory. A preexisting data set with premarital data from 2,508 young adults contained items measuring 8 indices of the theoretical predictor variables. The 8 latent variables were satisfaction with family relationships in the family of origin, amount of support of significant others for the relationship, impulsivity, attitude toward privacy, sociodemographic characteristics, perceived physical attractiveness, quality of couple communication, and level of couple agreement. The model was tested with analysis of covariance structures in LISREL. The results support the contention of multiple levels of causation. Perceptions of personal readiness for marriage depend largely on contextual issues (sociodemographic characteristics and significant other support) and then on the quality of couple interaction.

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