According to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the number of marriage registrations nationwide in 2020 was 8.131 million pairs, down 12.2% year-on-year, and the marriage rate fell for seven consecutive years and reached a record low. Not only that, but China is also facing the problem of rising divorce rates, and the number of divorces has soared by 75% in 10 years. The current state of contemporary marriage is worrying. In turn, it has also led to more and more young people not walking into marriage, and fear of marriage has become a major trend. How exactly did we lose our marital confidence?
Is most of the marriages around you not happy enough?
Or is it difficult to maintain freshness in a long marriage?
With the above questions in mind, the research group of the School of Media and International Culture of Zhejiang University conducted a marriage satisfaction survey on respondents aged 20-49 in ten cities in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan, Xi'an, Taiyuan and Nanning from July to August 2021. Through the combination of online and offline, the research group established a multi-source sample recruitment channel, not only recruiting online samples through "researchers", but also randomly inviting some users of DR diamond rings to participate in the questionnaire survey.
As well as the grades above the grid line, the stage of submission is completed
The survey found that the marital satisfaction of urban families in China was at an upper-middle level, with an average score of 3.79 (1 point was very dissatisfied, 5 points were very satisfied), and 70% of respondents scored more than 3.5 points on marriage satisfaction. Satisfaction with marriage varies widely among different genders. Men scored an average of 3.95 on satisfaction with marriage, while women scored an average of 3.64, significantly lower than men. In the 20-49 age range, with the increase of age, the satisfaction of marriage gradually declines, and the satisfaction of the middle-aged group of 40-49 years old is the lowest, showing a more obvious marriage "mid-life crisis".
The glue between social traditions and conceptual progress
Marriage satisfaction is higher when a man has a higher income or education than a woman, or is comparable to a woman. Mu Qiang's choice of spouse and door-to-door matching model for these two marriages that have existed for a long time in Chinese society are still guaranteed indicators of marital satisfaction.
But evenly matched love has also begun to gain more and more popularity. In the case of family decision-making and the allocation of housework, women are more satisfied with the situation of equal distribution, but becoming the main decision-maker themselves or the husband becoming the main bearer of household chores has caused women's marital satisfaction to decline sharply. This reflects the glue between social traditions and conceptual progress: on the one hand, women want to be treated more equally in family life, but on the other hand, they do not want to be the leader of the family.
There is no proposal, there is really a difference!
Good marital satisfaction requires behavioral maintenance, more than 90% of Chinese urban couples in the survey have made a commitment to each other to "stay together for a lifetime", nearly 70% of the respondents have experienced formal marriage proposals, and their marital satisfaction is significantly higher, especially among post-90s couples. The group that did not make a formal marriage proposal had a satisfaction score of only 3.36.
From the results of this report, people who have made premarital commitments and formal proposals are more satisfied with their marriages. This is because a sense of ritual is often thought to help bring a degree of predictability to an uncertain future, reduce anxiety about the present, and boost confidence in the future. By making commitments and formal marriage proposals, people can reduce their inner anxiety when making big decisions and boost their confidence in married life. At the same time, the ceremony itself is a kind of co-creation of memories, and both spouses can repeatedly trace and confirm after marriage to resist the challenging stages of marriage.
The trump card of "romance" is good everywhere
Increasing communication and romantic behavior is also an important way to keep your marriage fresh. In traditional societies, Chinese rarely repeat "love" in their mouths. The survey shows that the proportion of urban residents in China expressing love verbally/in writing to their spouses is high, with more than 75% of respondents expressing love to their spouses at least several times a year. It can be seen that Chinese have become more adept at expressing their love than their own parents, which has significantly increased marital satisfaction. Romantic behaviors, including dating and exchanging small gifts, are another way to express love. In the measurement of the dimension of exchanging small gifts, the selected DR respondents gave gifts more frequently, and the response "several times a month" reached 40.17%, so the marital satisfaction was also significantly higher. Overall, the more frequent romantic behaviors, the higher the marital satisfaction, and the trend is essentially the same across genders. The data shows that the frequency of dating couples who give small gifts to their spouses at least several times a year and at least once a month will significantly improve marital satisfaction.
It's not just the details that beat marriage, but also the "midlife crisis"
The data shows that the longer you marry within a certain range, the lower the marital satisfaction; but when the marriage age reaches a critical point, the satisfaction will gradually rise. The group within 5 years of marriage had the highest marital satisfaction (3.92 points), the lowest satisfaction when the marriage age reached 5 to 9 years (3.68), and the satisfaction rose to 3.81 points after reaching 15 years and above. It can be seen that the "seven-year itch" is not empty, and there is also a "mid-life crisis" in married life. Every relationship encounters bottlenecks and burnout periods, and it is especially important to find an effective way to overcome them. Increasing the frequency and quality of romantic behavior is the king of marriage preservation.
It can be seen that the study of marital relations is not only an academic issue, but also an indicative role for personal development and social progress. This time, Dia Co., Ltd. and the research group of the School of Media and International Culture of Zhejiang University jointly launched the "Marriage Satisfaction" survey, which aims to explore the marriage status quo of contemporary Chinese urban residents and the potential reasons affecting the quality of marriage, trying to find the key to improving the quality of marriage, and providing a "white paper" to a happy marriage for contemporary young people. In general, a more compatible couple trait, a more equal relationship between husband and wife, is the basis of a happy marriage. Communication, commitment and romantic interaction will make married life more warm.
The jewelry brand "DR Diamond Ring" under Dia Co., Ltd. has been committed to promoting the love concept of "loving one person with a lifetime" to the public. Whether it is its original purchase rules or the ritualistic store true love experience service, it is a social practice of the brand's mission of "making love better". In the survey data, many conclusions coincide with the brand's concept of love. It can be seen that the advocacy of "sense of ceremony" is not only a propaganda slogan, but also a good medicine to improve the dilemma of modern marriage.
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