The Extent of the Retreat from Marriage on a College Campus: A Quantitative Analysis of Student Perspectives on Marriage
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Authors
Arend, Grace
Date of Issue
2026-02-03
Type
Research Paper
Language
en_US
Subject Keywords
Other Titles
Abstract
While the retreat from marriage has been studied many times as a sociological phenomenon, the college demographic has not been isolated as an important population of study for research on marriage. Therefore this study concerns itself with this under-examined population, examining the extent to which the retreat from marriage is present on a college campus. Guided by life course theory, this research is conducted through the use of a quantitative survey distributed to current undergraduate students at a small, Catholic liberal arts college in order to understand student perspectives of marriage. The survey is finding that the majority of students do want to get married in the future, but the preferences guiding each individual’s marriage decisions vary due to the complexity of unique personal experience. The results of this study suggest that the extent of a complete retreat from marriage on a college campus is actually very small. Rather, there is evidence that the overlap of various personal and institutional influences supports delays in marriage among students.