O γάμος ως στόχος ζωής Προϋποθέσεις και λόγοι για την απόφαση γάμου

The goal of the present research was to investigate whether marriage is perceived in terms of the traditional western model that defines it as the framework for having a family and children or whether it is also perceived in terms of companionship dictating both marriage and alternative to marriage ways of organizing private life, such as cohabitation. For this purpose, we examined whether marriage is a personal life goal. We also investigated the preconditions and reasons people acknowledge in order to get married. Participants were sixty married individuals and sixty not-married ones (23-43 years old) who were involved in a dating relationship. They provided basic demographic information and responded to three open cognitive response questionnaires, specifically constructed for the purposes of the study. In the first one, without any mention of marriage, they were asked to list their personal life-goals. In the second one, they stated preconditions for getting married and in the third the reasons for their decision to get married. Employment was the most frequent life-goal, followed by thegoal of making a family and having relationships of good quality. Having a job and finding a good match for marriage were the most frequent preconditions. The most frequent reason for deciding to get married wasthe desire to have children and family. The traditional western model for marriage prevailed among participants’ perceptions. However, there was weak evidence suggesting views on long-term co-habitation (relationship quality, companionship) and on the traditional Greek perception of marriage (decision of marriage due to social pressure or social acceptance).