Families and Kinship

'Marriage is more than being together : the meaning of marriage for young adults.'

Kefalas et al 2001

The central arguments

Bold differences in attitudes between certain groups of young adults acorss various regions of America.

Uncover two distinct categories that place very different views on the meanings of marriage

Key Points/ concepts

Marriage naturalists compromising 1/5 of thesample are largeley from rural America

They follow the fast track into marriage that defined the mid-twentieth century

Marriage planners compromising the remainder of the sample, based in metropolitan areas, follow an elongated journey into adulthood.

Findings applied to debates about whether marriage is resiliant in decline or becoming deinstitutionalised

Planners delay their journey into marriage as a response to the elongated transition into adulthood.

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