The Meaning of Marriage According to University Students: A Phenomenological Study

Abstract

The aim of this study is to reveal the meanings university students attribute to marriage. The sample of the study consists of 14 final year students (7 males and 7 females), whose ages range between 22 and 32, studying in the Education Faculty at Ege University. The study is of phenomenological research design. Semi-structured interview forms were used as the data collection tool of the study. The data was analyzed with content analysis based on the inductive analysis method. Themes were constituted out of the codes. The analysis results suggest that marriage mostly evokes positive emotions among the participants; the premarital phase consists of self-knowledge, choosing the right life partner and deciding to marry stages, and students emphasized social relations, financial issues, relationship with family of origin, communication and roles in the marriage in association with the marriage process. According to the final year students, the unchanged but definitive constructs of marriage are deciding on marriage, key elements of marriage and marriage dynamics. The study results were also discussed in relation to the literature and some implications were suggested.

Genetic and Psycho-social Values, Perspective Among Akans on Marriage

“…Marriage is defined under the Act as a union of a man's and a woman's families, but it is also a contract between two persons -a man and a woman [1] . Marriage is therefore defined as a legal compact between a man and a woman who engage into a recognized relationship.Marriage is universal and significant for societies because of functions such as meeting the need for love and being loved, meeting both individuals' biological, social, psychological, and motivational needs, bringing new generations into the world, gaining a place in society, feelings of safety and protection, cooperation, being confident about the future, feeling proud of each other, and healthy sexual life [23] . A growing body of research reveals that marriage has a wide range of benefits, including improvements in individuals' economic well-being, mental and physical health, and the well-being of their children [27] .…”

Evli̇li̇k Doyumu Ölçeği̇’ni̇n Geli̇şti̇ri̇lmesi̇: Geçerli̇k Ve Güveni̇rli̇k Çalişmasi

“…Öte yandan, artan boşanma oranları ve evliliklerde azalmaya rağmen, beş evlilikten dört ve daha fazlası bireylerin ilk evlilikleri olup (OECD Family Database, 2019), yeniden evlenmeler de yaygınlığını sürdürmektedir (Cherlin, 2020). Türkiye'de üniversite öğrencileriyle yapılan çalışmalar da öğrencilerin evliliğe karşı olumlu tutumları olduğunu ve gelecekte evlenmeyi düşündüklerini göstermektedir (Deniz ve Aydemir, 2021;Koçyiğit Özyiğit, 2017). Bu durum evliliğin halihazırda önemini koruyan bir kurum olduğuna ve sağlıklı evliliklerin artmasına ve sürdürülmesine yönelik ihtiyaca dikkat çekmektedir.…”

Üniversite Öğrencilerinin Gözünden Evlilik

“…Türkiye'de son yıllarda araştırmacıların evlilik öncesi faktörlere odaklandıkları belirlenmiştir. Özellikle, evliliğe ilişkin tutumlar (Akbaş ve diğ., 2019;Bayoğlu ve Atli, 2014;Keldal, 2016;Keldal ve Atli, 2020), evlilikten beklentiler (Öz-Soysal ve diğ., 2020; Keldal, 2017), evliliğin anlamı (Koçyiğit-Özyiğit, 2017;Özabacı ve diğ., 2018) ve eş seçimi (Bozgeyikli ve Toprak, 2013;Sancak-Aydın ve Demir, 2017;Usluoğlu ve diğ.,, 2015) araştırmacıların dikkatini çeken konuların başında gelmektedir. Bu konuların yanı sıra, literatürde gençlerin evliliğe ilişkin görüşlerini inceleyen çalışmaların (Bener ve Günay, 2013;Deniz, 2019;İșmen-Gazioğlu, 2006;Köroğlu, 2013;Ondaş, 2007;Özteke-Kozan ve diğ., 2019;Teke, 2017) olduğu görülmüştür.…”