Onderzoek naar de dalende huwelijksleeftijd in Nederland: de ontwikkeling van een aantal meetinstrumenten

Samenvatting

There has been a general trend toward the lowering of the marriage age in most western countries in the past few years. An attempt is made to provide a total conceptual system for studying this issue, from a sociological standpoint, and from the view of psychological motivation. Questions which must be answered before a couple can marry include the strength of the emotional bond between them, whether they can marry, and whether they may marry. In regard to motives, 3 different types of marriage can be distinguished: (1) marriage as an endpoint (in which motivation lies in the past or in the present situation, and future expectations play an insignificant role), (2) marriage as the better alternative (here the motivation also lies in the past, and marriage is a way of escape), and (3) marriage as a beginning (which is motivated by emotional ties and involves definite expectations for the future). An attempt was made to set up a scale which would measure the various motivations such as emotional ties (which turned out to be the most difficult one to do). After extensive testing with small groups, 66 items were formulated and drawn up in test form, which was administered to 997 women who had married within the last 14 months. Factor and cluster analysis verified the validity of the test. P. Tiersma