Marriage Intentions of Young Australians

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Abstract
Synopsis Since the early 1970s Australians have been marrying later and a growing minority have been bypassing formal marriage altogether. This paper uses data from the 1981–82 Australian Family Formation Survey of the Institute of Family Studies to compare background characteristics and attitudes of never married 18–34 year olds who expected and did not expect to marry, and to examine reasons given by confirmed non–marriers for avoiding marriage. Simple difference–of–proportions tests show non–marriers to have been disproportionately from poorer blue collar backgrounds, from broken and/or unhappy homes, and not religiously inclined, although they fail to discriminate by years of schooling completed. They further show non–marriers subscribing less widely to traditional values concerning marriage, being more critical of its current state, more enthusiastic about single life and living together but less enthusiastic about parenthood, less committed to sexual exclusiveness in serious relationships and more resigned to relationships breaking down. Female non–marriers often held strong feminist views, while the most frequently cited reason for expecting never to marry was the attraction single life held.

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