Collaborative Research: RUI: Marriage Attitudes in the 21st Century.

婚姻是个人获得美国法律保障的利益的重要基础，标志着他们向成年的过渡，并参与家庭生活。我们知道，随着规范的演变，人们对婚姻的态度在20世纪末和21世纪初发生了变化；最近，美国亚人口的结婚率也发生了变化。然而，我们对婚姻态度的了解大多来自更早的调查，其中一些是基于地理上有限的样本。这个项目考察了美国人对婚姻问题的态度和情绪，特别关注最近结婚率发生变化的亚群体。人们还将关注婚姻如何影响21世纪成年人的生活和与婚姻有关的决策过程。研究结果将有助于了解人们对婚姻态度的变化如何与法律、态度等更大的社会变化联系在一起，以及这些变化对谁来说最为显著。研究结果将对支持婚姻作为美国社会生活基础的相关政策产生影响。这个项目用定量和定性的方法调查了21世纪初的婚姻态度。第一部分将是一项基于全国2700名成年人样本的调查。该项目将以先前测试过的调查问题为基础，并增加与婚姻和离婚经历相关的问题。这将允许在不同社会特征的子群体之间进行比较。这项调查还将允许跨地区的比较，比较不同州的成年人在婚姻支持方面的不同历史。第二部分将包括与120个人的访谈。面试问题将集中在解释态度和决定结婚或不结婚背后的原因。访谈部分的抽样策略允许在生活在四种不同社会背景下的人之间进行比较，从而丰富了调查数据提供的区域比较。这一发现将为有关婚姻、离婚和涉及法律权利以及家庭形成和变化的生命过程中相关变化的社会学理论提供信息。本项目由社会学项目和促进竞争研究的既定项目（EPSCoR）共同资助。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Marriage is an important foundation by which individuals receive benefits guaranteed by U. S. laws, signal their transition to adulthood, and participate in family life. We know that attitudes towards marriage have changed in the late 20th and early 21st centuries as a function of evolving norms; there have also been recent changes in rates of marriage in U.S. sub-populations. Yet most of what is known about attitudes towards marriage comes from much older surveys, some of which are based on geographically limited samples. This project examines American attitudes and sentiments toward issues of marriage, with particular focus on sub-populations whose take up rates of marriage have recently shifted. There will also be attention devoted to how marriage may be shaping adult lives and decision-making processes related to marriage in the 21st century. Findings will help to chart how changes in attitudes towards marriage may be tied to larger societal changes in laws, attitudes, and for whom such changes are most notable. Findings will have implications for policies relevant to supporting marriage as one foundation for social life in the United States. This project investigates marriage attitudes in the early 21st century using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The first component will be a survey based on a national sample of 2,700 adults. The project will build on previously tested survey questions and add questions related to the experience of marriage as well as divorce. This will permit comparisons across sub-groups that vary by social characteristics. The survey will also allow comparisons across regional contexts, comparing adults in states with varying histories of marriage support. The second component will consist of interviews with 120 individuals. Interview questions will focus on explaining reasons behind attitudes and decisions to marry or opt out. The sampling strategy for the interview component allows comparisons between those living in four different social contexts, thus enriching the regional comparisons afforded by the survey data. The findings will inform sociological theories regarding marriage, divorce, and related changes across the life course that implicate both legal rights as well as family formation and change.This project is jointly funded by Sociology Program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.