Marital Beliefs and Concerns of Spanish Emerging Adults

Abstract

Young adults’ beliefs about life-long commitment such as marriage are decisive when making decisions and setting life priorities. Using a representative sample of Spanish emerging adults (ages 18–29), we explored the relationship between beliefs about marriage and life priorities (also called ultimate concerns). Using latent class analysis, we found six different marital paradigms among the population: indifferent, reject, contextual, hesitant, convinced, and traditionalist. These groups were significantly different in their life priorities—for example, in the importance they assign to parenting or their professional career. The traits of emerging adults in each paradigm helped explain differences in risk-taking and sexual behaviors, particularly for men. In sum, marital beliefs are relevant when seeking to understand the commitments, decisions, and behaviors of emerging adults.