Attitude Towards Marriage and Perceived Parenting Style among College-Going Students

Objective. The present study examined the prevalence, gender differences in attitudes towards marriage and their relationship with perceived parenting styles among college-going students. Background. Today's culture has a wide range of marriage attitudes, depending on the person and their upbringing. The trend of opting to avoid partnerships altogether or to explore other kinds of relationships is growing. A parent's parenting style may greatly influence instilling these views in children and actively passing along values, ideas, and attitudes to them. Study design. The present study is cross-sectional descriptive research and employed a survey method to collect data using a convenient sampling method from a metropolitan city, Bangalore, Karnataka, South India. Participants. Indian sample: people (46,8% of male, 53,2% of female) from 17 to 28 years old, Mage = 20 years, a total of 267 college-going students participated in the study. Measurements. English version of Perceived Parenting Style and Marriage Attitude Scale along with socio-demographic sheet was administered. Results. A total of 14,2% of the students had a negative attitude towards marriage. The percentage of female students was higher than that of male students. Furthermore, gender differences were noticed in perceived parenting styles and attitudes towards marriage. A positive and significant relationship between parenting style and attitude towards marriage was observed (p < 0,001). For different parenting styles, only authoritarian parenting styles had a positive and significant relationship. Authoritative and permissive parenting styles did not show a significant relationship. Conclusions. Since the prevalence rate of negative attitudes towards marriage was quite high among college-going students, universities can help develop communication and relationship-building skills through various activities. The solution also lies in assimilating the information to the parent community regarding the negative impact of authoritarian parenting style on children and their perspectives of the family system and society.