Abstract
Despite that within the US the rates of marriage continue to steadily decline, African American women express desire to be married. This study explored marital attitudes among never married African American women. We used semi-structured interviews (N = 23) and a grounded theory method of analysis. Participants identified exposure to marriage during childhood and messaging from family and faith communities as major sources influencing their desire to marry. Additionally, other themes, such as respectability and child behavioral benefits emerged that influenced women’s attitudes towards marriage. We present a discussion of the findings, limitations of this study, and next steps in the research.
Original language | English (US) |
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Number of pages | 29 |
Journal | Journal of Family Issues |
State | Submitted - Dec 31 2019 |
Keywords
- Marriage
- African American women
- Marital attitudes
- Grounded theory
- Qualitative study