Valentine’s Day is full of little rituals that we perform for our significant other, but how do Aussies feel when it comes to the weightiest romantic ritual of them all?
New research shows that nearly half (43 per cent) of single Aussies don’t ever want to get married, while 28 per cent are unsure.
That leaves just 29 per cent of Aussie singles who are the marrying type.
The survey, commissioned by eHarmony, indicates that over half of Australians (58 per cent) feel marriage is an outdated concept, perhaps explained by most respondents (65 per cent) believing that you don’t need the ring to have a successful relationship.
If you are going to get married, 55 per cent of men and women believe the most appropriate age for it is between 25 and 29 years old, and almost two-thirds (62 per cent) think you should first date for one to four years before tying the knot.
So why is it that so few singles want to walk down the aisle?
According to professor of behavioural science at the London School of Economics, Paul Dolan, women who have never married or had children are the healthiest and happiest population subgroup.
This was reflected in the eHarmony study, with a larger proportion of men (34 per cent) believing that there are more benefits to marriage compared to being single than women (20 per cent).
Furthermore, when it comes to wanting kids, only a quarter of women think children are better off with married parents, compared to four in 10 (42 per cent of) men.
Around one-quarter (27 per cent) of men and women consider not wanting kids a deal-breaker in marriage.
Are you made of marriage material according to the average Aussie?
Fewer than one in five (18 per cent) of women say a partner’s income would influence their desire to marry, compared to, perhaps surprisingly, 23 per cent of men.
Survey participants were asked to rank a list of 21 factors according to what is most important to them in a spouse.
At the top of the list were things like honesty (82 per cent), trustworthiness (79 per cent) and respectfulness (74 per cent), followed by attributes such as having similar values (65 per cent), a willingness to compromise (63 per cent) and sexual compatibility (53 per cent).
While having similar values was important for most Australians, religious beliefs didn’t appear to hold much weight, despite marriage being an integral part of so many religions.
More than half of those surveyed (52 per cent) said religion shouldn’t influence someone’s decision to marry a partner, and just 9 per cent of Aussies think you should get married in a church.
Right down the bottom of the list placed attractiveness (35 per cent), ambition (27 per cent) and a history of civility in the relationship (22 per cent).
While it was fairly even across the board between genders, ambition seems to be the trait where men and women differ most, with women making up 69 per cent of the group who said ambition makes someone marriage material.
Women also considered someone’s ability to get along with their family (59 per cent) and their friends (58 per cent) to be important.
Only 14 per cent of Aussie women would marry someone of whom their family disapproved, compared to a quarter of men who would go ahead with the nuptials anyway.
Finally, when it comes to protecting what we’ve worked for as singles, 30 per cent of men and women believe couples should sign a prenup – compared to 35 per cent who said nup to the nup.
What do you consider to be marriage material?
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