Degree Name

MA (Master of Arts)

Program

Psychology

Date of Award

5-2003

Committee Chair or Co-Chairs

David J. Marx

Committee Members

Otto Zinser, Roger C. Bailey

Abstract

Gender and wedding type preference affect views of those who get married in a courthouse as opposed to a church. The participants for this study consisted of 198 unmarried, undergraduate students that planned to marry someday. Participants responded to a wedding location scenario then completed a wedding type preference questionnaire, the Life Orientation Test Revised, and a demographics questionnaire. Results revealed that group 1 (participants who were high on traditional wedding preference and received the scenario of courthouse wedding ceremony), rated the hypothetical couple as having a higher chance of being happy after 25 years of marriage and being more in love than group 2 (high traditional and church scenario), group 3 (low traditional and courthouse scenario), and group 4 (low traditional and church scenario). For participants whose parents were divorced, the age of the participant when their parents divorced was a significant predictor of predicted happiness and length of marriage.

Document Type

Thesis - unrestricted

Copyright

Copyright by the authors.

Included in

Psychology Commons

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