Maybe Later…Or Maybe Not At All: Personal Attributes as Predictors of Marriage Apprehension Among Emerging Adults

The median age at first marriage in the U.S. has reached historic highs—29.2 for men and 27.1 for women. In this study, we used the Marriage Apprehension Questionnaire (MAQ) to investigate the marriage wariness of university students. Previous research has suggested that the marital attitudes of young adults are largely the result of familial and societal factors. In this study, we were interested in the role of individual-difference variables (e.g., attachment styles, selfishness, maximizing) in marriage apprehension. We found that each of the IVs investigated was strongly related to marriage uncertainty, and together they explained as much as 40% of the variance in the marriage apprehension scores of emerging adults. This initial study employing the MAQ suggests that this new measure of marriage apprehension may be a useful tool for further research.