What's Love Got to do With it? Analyzing the Attitudes of Black College Students on Marriage and How They Affect African American Marriage Rates

Abstract

The decline of marriage rates within the African American community is an area of concern among Black families. Academic literature provides theories and explanations of the current conditions of Black marriages in the United States and explores various concepts which explain the current state of the Black family. The following study is an analytical evaluation of a survey conducted on a sample of students at Morris College in Sumter, South Carolina during the summer of 2003. Its purpose is to determine whether the attitudes and perceptions of marriage and family held by African American college students significantly influence the rate of marriage in the black community. Concepts that were regarded in the survey were the presence/absence of roles within marriage, existing problems among married couples, marriage as a dying trend, and the urgency or desire to marry, among others. The results indicate that to advocate the marriage decline, young people are becoming more and more comfortable with the idea of cohabitation. In addition to this gradual acceptance, there shows a slowly dying desire among young African Americans to be married. However, the study also displays that traditional beliefs and views on marriage and family still hold strong. Suggested further research might explore a detailed history of relationships and family models through qualitative measures to more accurately explain how attitudes on marriage influence motivations to be married.