Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Relationship Between Individualistic Attitudes And Attitudes Towards Traditional Marriage In Contemporary American Society, Mary Sarah Harper

Social Work Theses

This report examines attitudes of a sample of 100 individuals from the ‘marriage-eligible population’ regarding the Institution of Marriage in relation to the rising prevalence of Individualistic attitudes in contemporary American society. This study found the rise of individualistic attitudes to have a statistically significant positive correlation to the rise in negative attitudes towards traditional marriage. It is argued in this study that the increase in individualistic attitudes is the primary contributing factor to the three trends of marital decline; the increasing divorce rate, the decreasing marriage rate, and the increasing number of alternatives to traditional marriage. This study attempts …