In a new study conducted in Australia, Zlatko Skrbis and colleagues interviewed about 7,000 adolescents about their expectations about marriage, cohabitation and divorce. They write,
“The results presented here have shown that young people do not overwhelmingly expect to experience non-traditional life pathways in the manner suggested by proponents of the individualization thesis. Furthermore, our findings indicate that those who do display these non-traditional values and expectations are likely to vary with respect to school sector and gender. Stronger claims about de-institutionalization, which emphasize the emergence of a reflexive subject that is free of the constraints of social structure of any kind, are not entirely borne out here.”
Skrbis, Z., Western, M., Tranter, B., Hogan, D., Coates, R., Smith, J., . . . Mayall, M. (2012). Expecting the unexpected: Young people’s expectations about marriage and family. Journal of Sociology, 48(1), 63-83. doi:10.1177/1440783311408968
