Author: Abeer Al Swaty
This study aims at investigating youths' attitudes toward marriage in Hebron Governorate in terms of age, gender, place of residency, academic qualification, religion commitment, work status, and monthly income. The study approached the literature as a multi-dimensional phenomenon, which addressed both theoretical and applied research. The significance of this recent study is the first, which dealt with this theme, to the author knowledge, which in turn comes as complement of available previous studies about marriage customs and traditions in the Palestinian society.
To achieve this end, the study adopted the quantitative research approach using the sampling survey method. The questionnaire is appropriate for the exploratory nature of the research. A 54-item questionnaire was formulated which was divided into five sub-scales as follows: the general information of the participants (7 items); the second section dealt with the marriage motives (9 items), the third section included ways of choosing the partner (17 items), the fourth dealt with attitudes toward the partner (13 items), while the fifth included marriage happiness (9 items). The random stratified method was utilized which comprised of a sample size of (598) males and females youth at Hebron Governorate. The collected data was statistically analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS).
The study results revealed that youths' attitudes toward marriage were moderate (M 3.34) with a percentage of (66.8%). Their attitudes were also of a moderate level in all of the study sub-scales that are, marriage happiness, way of choosing partner, marriage motives, and the attitudes toward the partner. The results also showed statistical differences in youths' attitudes toward marriage according to gender. The differences were in the sub-scales of marriage motives, ways of choosing the partner, and the attitudes toward the partner that favored the males. The study also revealed significant differences in youths' attitudes toward marriage in Hebron Governorate according to the work status that favored the working youth. In addition to the differences in the youth attitudes toward marriage according to the academic qualification that favored the youth with intermediate diploma. Also, the study findings indicated significant differences in the youth attitudes toward marriage according to religion commitment, that favored the deeply religious youth. However, no statistical significant differences were found in the rest of the study variables, that are, place of residency, and monthly income.
In light of the findings and discussion, the study recommend, empowering females through self-understanding and building up their confidence, encourage the youth about the marriage issue and raising a family following the teachings of Islam, motivating youth for marriage and instilling positive attitudes toward it, and educating the parents about the importance of giving a margin for the youth in choosing their partner, in order to take the responsibility of their decisions and to preserve and sustain their marriage.
Keywords: Attitudes, marriage, life partner, youth, Palestine
Abeer Al Swaty, MA. Sustainable Rural Development, Institute of Sustainable Development, Al-Quds University, Main Campus, Jerusalem- Abu Dies, Palestine. Independent Researcher, Hebron, Palestine. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
