Socio-Psychological Factors in the Shaping of a Marriage Partner Image in Youth

Abstract

Abstract. The aim of the research is to analyze the image of a future spouse in older adolescents, as well as socio-psychological factors in shaping this image. Among the factors, we single out family-of-origin patterns, including psychological climate, level of control and conflict, gender stereotypes and social expectations regarding the functional-role models of the married family and spouse, their character traits.

 Research methods: theoretical – scientific literature analysis and synthesis, research systema­tization and generalization; empirical – psychodiagnostic testing, questioning, qualitative analysis; mathematical methods of interpretation – percentage rating, scaling, correlation analysis.

The empirical findings show that starting a family is not an urgent issue for modern youth. Most consider it appropriate to either build a career and get married at the same time, or to fulfil their potential in the professional field. As for the age of marriage, this factor does not play a significant role; it will all depend on the level of being ready for family life, because of an awareness of responsibility for the decision taken. Motivation for marriage is quite diverse. Most respondents see their future partner and family as a support. Although there are non-constructive motivations, in particular the fear of loneliness and trying to live up to the expectations of the immediate environment. Most respondents have the same ideas about the roles of parents and «breadwinners», namely, both partners should be actively involved in raising children and providing for the family.

An important factor in shaping the image of a marriage partner is the influence of the communication media, in particular, promotion of certain images and standards of beauty. However, most of the respondents in the study sample disagreed with the statement that it would be good if their partner looked like a cover model. Religion and the influence of religious precepts are no less important factor for the majority of respondents in our sample (residents of Ivano-Frankivsk oblast), and for girls they turned out to be more important, although not much.

Today, given the circumstances of the pandemic, there is another factor that influences the spouse image shaping – quarantine measures. Young people pointed out the need for a marriage partner to have soft skills and use these important skills not only in the professional sphere, but also in family life.

Psychological factors in the marital partner image shaping include character traits. Correlation data analysis shows that respondents prefer partners with similar but less pronounced character traits, except for suspicion. All respondents of the suspicious type believe that the ideal spouse should have a low level of suspicion.

We find that a significant socio-psychological factor in shaping the image of a marriage partner is the parental family, in particular its psychological climate, which reflects the degree of satisfaction with family relationships. The findings show that the higher the level of control in the parental family, the more dependent the spouse is seen by the respondent; the more conflicted the parental family, the more aggressive and selfish partner will be chosen by the respondent.

Conclusions. Thus, the paper explores the ideas of modern young people about marriage and marriage partner. We have made a correlation analysis of personality traits of the study sample, as well as characteristics of the ideal self-image of a spouse and relation peculiarities in the parental family and revealed new criteria in choosing a marriage partner, given the situation of forced social isolation.

Keywords: marriage partner, image, family relations, gender stereotypes, parental family.