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

婚姻是个人获得美国法律保障的福利、标志着他们过渡到成年以及参与家庭生活的重要基础。我们知道，在20世纪末和21世纪初，随着规范的演变，人们对婚姻的态度发生了变化；美国亚人群的结婚率最近也发生了变化。然而，人们对婚姻态度的了解大多来自历史更久远的调查，其中一些调查是基于地域有限的样本。这个项目调查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人群。会议还将关注婚姻可能如何塑造21世纪成年人的生活和与婚姻有关的决策过程。这些发现将有助于绘制出婚姻态度的变化如何与法律、态度的更大社会变化联系在一起，以及这种变化对谁来说最值得注意。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。该项目使用定量和定性两种方法调查了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。该项目将在之前测试过的调查问题的基础上，增加与结婚和离婚经历有关的问题。这将允许在不同社会特征的子群体之间进行比较。这项调查还将允许在不同地区背景下进行比较，比较不同婚姻支持历史州的成年人。第二部分将包括对120名个人的访谈。面试问题将集中在解释结婚或选择退出的态度和决定背后的原因。访谈部分的抽样战略允许对生活在四个不同社会背景的人进行比较，从而丰富了调查数据提供的区域比较。这些发现将为社会学关于婚姻、离婚和生命过程中相关变化的理论提供信息，这些变化既涉及合法权利，也涉及家庭形成和变化。该项目由社会学项目和既定的激励竞争研究计划(EPSCoR)联合资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.