Image source: Tuworm Creative
What is the mentality of contemporary young people towards marriage? What factors influence their eventual marriage? What are the fresh thoughts of young people on the topic of marriage and childbearing? Just So Soul Research Institute, a subsidiary of Soul App, recently released a "Generation Z Marriage View Survey", and finally 1618 young people effectively filled it out.
The report finds that young people are craving love more than ever. In order to increase the probability of getting out of the list, they will find true love through social software, offline activities, and even traditional blind dates. Among the new generation Z, the acceptance rate of online dating is as high as more than 90%, and more than 80% of respondents are looking forward to entering the marriage hall. In marriage, the acceptance rate of sibling love is more than 80%, more than 50% of respondents said they do not care about the bride price, and nearly 1/10 young people hope to get married directly.
Keyword: openness
More than 80% of young people accept sibling love, and nearly 1/10 hope to "directly receive a certificate"
Not long ago, in Dongpu Huangjiu Town, Shaoxing, Zhejiang, a "Song Yun wedding" on the water was widely reported by the media. Recreating the wedding ceremony of thousands of years ago, a pair of lovers dressed in Chinese dresses in crimson and green women's clothes meet at the bow of the boat and bow to each other. The gentle Jiangnan temperament and antique wedding process left a deep impression on onlookers.
Young people's wedding ceremonies are becoming more open, fun and diverse. The Chinese wedding in Shaoxing is just one of the classic cases. In a recent survey by Just So Soul Research Institute, nearly 30% of young people want to travel and get married, and nearly 1/10 young people say they don't need any form, "just get a license".
The openness of young people is also reflected in changes in the channels and forms of mate selection. In order to find true love, young people actively explore offline activities, social applications and other channels, and 9.36% of young people accept traditional blind dates. In the research report of the Just So Soul Research Institute, in marriage, the acceptance of sibling relationship is as high as 80%, and the acceptance degree of long-distance relationship is as high as 70%.
This generation of young people prefers to have their own leadership in marriage. In the "Survey on Generation Z's View of Marriage", only 18.45% of the people married under the influence of mainstream social values, and only 21.72% of the people married for the sake of inheritance. In contrast, 49.29% of young people hope to "realize self-worth and start a new stage of life" through marriage.
Keyword: anticipation
Young people are eager to get married, and more than 90% hope to enter marriage within 3 years of being in love
"Two people in one room, three meals and four seasons". Contemporary young people have a lot of desire and expectation for marriage. They hope to change their identity and realize the value of life through marriage.
In the data surveyed by the Just So Soul Institute, more than 80% of young people aspire to get married, and more than 30% of couples put marriage on the agenda. When answering why they desire to get married, the keywords that appear most often are, "expectation, baby, life, journey, identity, struggle", which shows the attitude of young people towards marriage: they believe that marriage can bring more motivation to their real life and is an important symbol of identity change in life's journey.
Behind this may involve a change in young people's perception of marriage. In the eyes of their parents, marriage is more of an inevitable choice, but for the new generation of young people, it is an important watershed moment for them to transform their identity. They hope to define their identity through marriage, and they hope to change their real life through marriage.
For material conditions such as family background, young people do not care as much as the outside world thinks. When considering a marriage partner, only 17.44% would include family background and 10.47% would include work occupation. In the end, the real factor that determines whether two people can enter the marriage hall is the degree of matching of the three views and personalities.
From love to marriage, young people don't have to wait long. For marriageable age, 37.65% of young people expect to be under 30 years old. According to data from the Just So Soul Research Institute, only 3.2% of young people are willing to accept long-distance love runs for more than 3 years, 90.2% of young people can accept 1 month to 3 years of relationship, and 6.6% of young people hope to get married within 1 month.
Keyword: reality
More than 30% of young people receive a bride price of less than 100,000, and women are most looking forward to having children at the age of 26-30
"The happiness of previous generations is closely linked to morality and family. And our younger generation, leaving the original local and family model, one person grew up in this world, experienced what the previous generations Chinese have not experienced, and when with another person, in fact, many of the logic in it is different. Liang Yongan, a well-known sociologist, believes that with the development of China's urbanization, the marriage of contemporary young people will involve many collisions of concepts and reality.
Although most people expect marriage, in the Just So Soul Research Institute, 9.32% of young people still "don't want to get married, they think it's better to be alone." People who are not interested in marriage are more likely to lack trust in the marriage relationship, or think that marriage will encroach on personal time and affect future career development.
When it comes to practical topics, bride price and childbirth are also inescapable concerns. Previously, the discussion around the sky-high bride price, why is the topic so hot? Because it carries many subjective factors such as emotions, customs, and regions, it tests the degree of consensus that can be reached between boys and girls and each other's families.
According to a survey conducted by Just So Soul, nearly 50% of young people believe that bride price is a necessary condition for marriage. As for the price of the bride price, 56.98% of young people believe that 100,000-300,000 is a relatively suitable range, and 36.61% of young people say that they can accept the bride price level below 100,000.
At the level of bride price, there are obvious differences in the ecology of men and women. Nearly 70% of men do not care about the bride price, and more than 70% of women think it is. Women and men consider marriage more than men. This is also reflected in the fertility level. The most desired age of first childbearing for women is concentrated between 26-30 years old, while men are relatively Buddhist, 33.64% of men can accept having their first child at the age of 31-35.
The real pressure after childbirth is a common problem faced by both men and women. The "Generation Z Marriage View Survey" found that 52.59% of young people feel stressed about the small matter of raising children. The main reason for the stress comes from the financial level, and 48.12% of people are worried that they will not have time to raise children due to the fast pace of work.
The balance between young people's survival and marriage and childbearing has become a social issue. On the one hand, we do see the anxiety of young people, but at the same time, we also see that they are open and eager for marriage, and the expectation of marriage is not only realistic, but also contains value projection and other spiritual pursuits based on self-knowledge. This may be a more real and universal view of young people's marriage.
Rumi has the poem, "If you fall in love with love, look for yourself." "Young people know themselves more deeply in order to encounter love and marriage in a better attitude. The development of interest social platforms such as Soul provides more link possibilities for young people, based on the original intention of interests and hobbies, under the expression of de-appearance and pressure-free, social networking becomes more real and pure. Here, young people can better express and define themselves, show their value orientation and spiritual world, and receive high-quality responses. When Liang Yongan participated in the Soul App Qixi event in 2022, he said, "These Internet platforms, these technologies allow people with common interests to come together and light the flame in their hearts, which I think is particularly worth promoting." ”
For this generation of young people, there is a greater need for deep and high-quality emotional connections.