Romantic Love, Commitment and Marriage in Emerging Adulthood in an Indian Context

Abstract

The article focuses on issues of love, marriage and commitment during emerging adulthood, a life phase which is increasingly prominent in urban India owing to its global factors. In-depth and open-ended questionnaires and interviews of 110 respondents, comprising 80 emerging adults, 40 women and 40 men; and 30 middle aged adults, 15 men and 15 women having children between 18 and 25 years of age were conducted to ( i) unravel the social beliefs and attitudes towards romantic love, commitment and marriage and factors that shape these beliefs and attitudes, ( ii) understand the importance of commitment in conceptualising romantic relationships and ( iii) examine the generation and gender differences in the concepts, beliefs and attitudes. Findings reveal that even when the emerging adults are open to experimentation before marriage, the ultimate goal of romantic relationship is to establish a long-term relationship culminating into marriage.

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