Attitudes Toward Marriage and Subjective Well-Being Among Indian Young Adults

Abstract

The institution of marriage is central to Indian society, and yet society is changing rapidly as the Indian economy grows and modernizes, especially in urban India. Marriage rates are falling in western countries and other eastern countries, but they do not seem to be in India as a whole. Attitudes to marriage and subjective well-being seem to be linked in other countries with intention to marry and we wanted to see if a similar link existed among emerging adults in urban India. A total of 113 participants (mostly women) responded to our online survey of which 46 were college students and the rest were unmarried adults who found the survey on social media. The questions inquired about their attitudes to marriage, subjective well-being, and intention to marry. As was true in other countries, our participants’ attitudes toward marriage were related to subjective well-being, but unlike in other countries, intention to marry was not correlated with their subjective well-being. Further, they were ambivalent about their marriage intentions. Marriage rates in India do not seem to be reducing, so this result may reflect an urban trend among emerging adults.