Unlike in the past, when marriage was seen as one of the natural developmental tasks. However, in modern society, marriage is merely optional. In addition, those who are of marriageable age are either postponing marriage or choosing not getting to get married. Despite there being many reasons for the decline in marriage rates and delayed marriage, one substantial reason is the change in people's values regarding marriage in modern society. Examining individuals' marriage values is predicted to assist in understanding this phenomenon, as values are one of the antecedents of individual behavior. On the other hand, the change of marriage values is not limited to a certain generation; rather, there are various marriage values within a every generation. In addition, marriage values are not formed by chance but rather comprise a complex system. Therefore, this study attempted to incorporate gender, family strengths, and self-determination as variables that impact marriage values.
This study was conducted as an online survey through social networking sites(SNS) for the Second Generation of Baby Boomer(1965~1974), Generation X(1975~1984), Generation Y(1985~1996) and Generation Z(1997~2003). A total of 1,114 copies were used for the final analysis. The program called SPSS 27.0 was used to investigate basic statistics. In addition, we conducted Latent Profile Analysis using the program called Mplus 8.8 to identify the types of marriage values within each generation and explore the influence of gender, family health, and self-determination on each type. The results of this study are as follows.
First, the marriage values for each generation were categorized into two or more types. In common, the Second Generation of Baby Boomers and Generation Y were divided into both 'negative ambivalence about marriage' and 'positive ambivalence about marriage'. On the other side, Generation X and Generation Z were divided into 'negative ambivalence about marriage', 'neutral about marriage', and 'positive ambivalence about marriage'. In addition to confirming the existence of a variety of marriage values within a generation. We found that the types of marriage values latent profiles show a similar relationship between parent and child generations.
Second, we discovered that healthy family relationships hold equal significance in shaping marriage values across all generations. On the other hand, the influence of gender was significant for Generation X and Generation Z. And only Generation Z showed a significant influence of self-determination, confirming that the variables which influence marriage values may differ for each generation. Based on this, the significance and specific discussion of this study are as follows.
The significance of this study lies in the identification of a group in each generation that holds ambivalence values about marriage. This finding challenges the traditional dichotomous framework that categorizes marriages as either traditional or open, leading to a different interpretation of marriage values. In addition, ambivalence attitudes about marriage can lead to confusion, making it necessary for us to continue conducting research on these groups. Additionally, we identified differences between gender and self-determination as variables that affect marriage values, excluding family variables. So, it is significant to understand marriage values by considering generational characteristics. Based on this, it is believed that it can provide a basis for education and counseling programs related to marriage, reflecting the important variables unique to each generation.