Factors Influencing the Reluctance of Young Jordanians to Marry: A Field Study

This study aimed to identify the Economic, Social and Cultural determinants behind the reluctance of young people in getting married in the Jordanian society, and to identify the necessary mechanics to facilitate marriage among the young people.
To achieve the objectives of the study the researcher used (SPSS) Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, A number of statistical methods were used such as percentages, and means, standard deviations and variance analysis test (T Test).
The study has shown that the economic determinants play a prominent role in the reluctance of young people for getting married. These determinants are: absence of real job opportunities, inability to secure marital home, low wages, high marriage requirements and poor economic conditions. The social determinants; i.e. the intervention of the family in choosing the future wife, having romantic relationships alternative to marriage, higher education and the hierarch of children within the family, all contributed to the delay of marriage. The study has also shown that the habitual boasting an exaggeration to the requirements and costs of marriage and the ideal specifications for the future wife, the different pattern of thinking of future spouse, the inability to create a mutual marital background, the view of marriage as restricting the freedom of the individual and the obligations and responsibilities that marriage entails represented the cultural determinants.