Preference Of Married Life And Single Life Sociology Essay

The main purpose of this study is to identify the gender difference in preference of being single and married in The Mines. The study also aims to investigate the relationship between male and female perspective toward being single and married and male and female preference of being single and married.15 male and 15 female from The Mines in Selangor were involved in this study. The study was conducted using quantitative approach where questionnaire were used as the instrument to collect data. The data were then analyzed using Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. The preliminary analysis of the data revealed that most of the men prefer in single life for all 20 statements that has been mentioned in the questionnaire and most of the female prefer married life for all 20 statements that has been mentioned in the questionnaire. The implication and suggestions from the result of this study will be discussed.

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the background of the study, problem and its significance, and the scope and the limitation of the study.

Introduction

Being single can be dramatically different from living married. Marriages conventionally characterize the commencement of a family, but living single generally indicates that you are free to do what as you please. The dissimilarity among single and married life vary from very little to very huge, but there are a few difference that serve to illustrate the preference between male and female. Responsibility is one of the issue influencing the preference among male and female. Whereas living single is just self-responsible, living married are responsible for partners. While living single, a people only think of himself, but married people think their partners and children. Single people want to live the life as an exploration and they want to discover new things but married people cannot do it. Single people do not take responsibility, but married people take responsibility as spouse in their life. Married couples uses more time discuss the future such as how to save money, what kind of occupation choices to make and what time to start thinking about children. Living married will concern more with future capability to raise family compare to living single which do not have to be bothered about much beyond monthly expenses. Single people only are as an individual in the life, but married people are as a husband or a wife or a father or a mother in the life. The life is effortless for single people; on the other hand the life gives more responsibility and complicated for married people. Being married is like a second job. You ought to toil at it for it to be flourishing. Married couples need devoted time to communicate with each other and assist one another with their physical and emotional demands. For this reason, married couple generally devoted less free time to hang out with friends or watch the most up-to-date movie. A single person have more free time but also might realize that the free time is not that pleasurable since there is no one to spend together. Once a person get married, the person no longer an independent entity. You might keep your occupation and your relationship is first-rate, but start from your wedding you must all the time think as a husband and wife. What you have decide affecting your future together. Whatever things you purchase have an impact on both of your finances. Whatever thing you do must be well thought-out from your wife or husband’s point of view. When making a decision in single life, you only have to consider your own welfare, but you are also lack of the emotional support that makes complicated decisions easier to bear. Being married can have considerable financial benefits, on the other side, it also can be pretty pricey. Living a married life receives a tax break and get advantage from the ability to share their financial resources. Mortgage and rental fee are shared. Living single do not receive tax break and only responsible of their own living costs. On the shortcoming for married life, living in single life can spend money whenever and wherever when you see fit without have to worry about a mad spouse.

Problem Statement

There are a lot writing about gender roles in marriage life. For men, married life means a better life style, since they have a woman to take care of them. However, this is totally different for women. According to Betty Friedan the dream image of the young American woman is “suburban housewife” .Just as prescriptive journalism of the 19th century geared to the middling classes emphasize the stereotype of that women’s role in culture as wife and mother, the 1950s saw an perfect achieve in magazines, books journal, article, movies, advertisement and songs, that illustrate the middle-class, white woman satisfied only by a blissful marriage. There was an article from a popular research of 1960 offered a sociological study of the about one-third of American adult female whose lives not match with this domestic norm. Based on consultation with married and single women, and a host of “experts”, the author detailed the “frenzied” mating efforts of women who tried, but failed, to marry as well as the unpleasant emotional effects of being single. Even though the data presented that single women could live happily-sometimes even happier than those who are married-the article’s abstract stress on “frantic hordes of unwed women” persistently looking for husbands perpetrated a stereotypical depiction at odds with some of the statistics and testimonies quoted.

Objectives of the study

The main objective of this study is to examine the gender difference in preference of being single and married. More specifically, the study is conducted to fulfill the following objectives:

To investigate male and female perspective toward being single and married

To investigate male and female preference of being single and married

To investigate the relationship between male and female perspective toward being single and married and male and female preference of being single and married

Significant of study

Nowadays, there are decreasing in number of married people. There are certainly differences of single and married life in it. In the single life difficulties affect a single person, but married life difficulties affect more people and so that harder the life for married people. People prefer more single life than married life such as freedom and responsibility reasons. Based on this study, the researcher want to find out what is the other reasons affecting these differences, the researcher could have some idea to change the perspective of male and female toward being single and married. Hopefully, this research could help to raise the number of married people in the society nowadays.

Definition of Terms

For clearer understanding of the terms used in this study, below is their meaning:

1.5.1 Married

‘It refers to the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law.’ (Merriam Webster, 2013)

1.5.2 Single

‘It means unmarried; of or relating to celibacy; unaccompanied by others.’ (Merriam Webster, 2013) Chapter 2

Literature Review
2.0 Introduction

This research is about preference of married life and single life among men and women. Working through psychological articles and journals, five relatively research journal and articles are found. Below are the summary of each articles and journals.

2.1 Single versus Married Life

“Each of single and married life has its advantages and disadvantages at different times and they both definitely take a different way of thinking to take pleasure in. Married couples over and over again wonder how it would be like to be single again; on the other hand single people spend immeasurable time searching for their companion. So, which is better?”

Perry Berryman examined that the major advantages about being married is finally there is someone start building a stable life with you, someone who has made a vow to you. Gone are the days of pretending, you can be real self, because your other half will find out the truth slowly. You also start being respecting from the other who treats marriage as a rite of passage into adulthood. “If the marriage is good and stable, it will make you a stronger person and get through all the trouble and difficulties since there is a supportive partner in your life that is a constant (although not perfect). On the contrast, freedom is one of the advantages of being single. According to Perry Berryman, the disadvantages of both lifestyles vary from everyone. “If you involved in a bad marriage then single life will seem like a relief. Likewise, if you can’t find a partner to spend free time together, then you will probably feel abandoned, loneliness are around you and upset no matter how successful your life is. The key to evaluate the differences is actually in get pleasure from the lifestyle you owned while you have it. (Berryman, 2012)

A married person pays significantly less when dealing with the expenditure of living in contrast to a single person. Married couples advantage from both federal and Society Security when it comes to the living wages. When people were single, they tend to waste money on things like gym membership or accessory; however, once they get married they are less likely to waste on these things. Because there are some heavy expenses that appear with marriage. Retirement appear to be more of a reality in married life, people saved a number of of their earnings for retirement. On the other hand, living single does not start saving for retirement until their 40’s. (Hampton, 2006)

According to Linda J. Waite and Maggie Gallagher (2011), they studied the physical, emotional, sexual, and economic benefit that marriage provided to individual and society as a whole. “Today a wide agreement say that marriage is not a good deal for female; when parents are discontented, divorce is better for children; and that marriage is, for all intents and purposes, a personal choice, not a public institution. They completely disagree with these statements, compete instead that by a broad range of index, in fact, being single or divorced is not as good as being married- physically, materially, and mentally. They compete that married people live healthier, longer, earn more income, mount up more wealth, feel more achievement in their lives, get pleasure from more enjoyable sexual relationships, and have happier and healthier children than those who remain single, cohabit, or get divorced.” (Linda J. & Maggie, 2011)

“Diehard romantics say love has no price, but a pair of European economists goes up against this statement. In 2002, they calculated the financial value of marriage at $100,000 annually.” (Financial Times) According to Conger, people are putting off marriages later in life than ever before. The regular age of getting married was continue going up 90 percent more single-person households existed in 2005 than in 1970. Researchers have shown that married people are more likely to live healthier and earn more income than single. A marriage also appears to increase healthiness. The Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that married people is less likely to drink or smoke heavily, suffer frequent headache and experience from psychological problems than single people. Across nations and racial groups, people report more satisfaction from marriage than occupation, society or wealth. In a survey, 43 percent of respondents who had married reported that they were “very happy”, compare to 24 percent of single people. (Cristen Conger)

“Marriage is one of the most significant institutions affecting people’s well-being and life. Married life enhances sexual relations and promote obligation between partners. This obligation has optimistic effects, for instance on spouses’ wellbeing and their household income.” (Alois Stutzer and Bruno S. Frey, 2003) Here are two explanations why marriage contributes to well-being are put emphasis on (Argyle, 1999): First, marriage provides extra sources of confidence, for example by making available an escape from stress in job of one’s life. It is gainful for one’s personal identity to have more than one leg to stand on. Subsequently, married people have more chance of benefiting from a lifelong and caring cherished relationship, and experience less from aloneness. For those who are unmarried, people who live together with a partner are notably more satisfied than those who live alone. However, this effect is reliant on the society one lives in. It turns out that people living together in individualistic societies experience more life contentment than single, and occasionally even married, persons. The contrary holds for collectivist societies. (Alois Stutzer and Bruno S. Frey, 2003)

Chapter 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.0 Introduction

This chapter describes the research methodology used in the study. The research design, the location where the research was conducted and the description of research subject are described. It also defines the data collection instrument used and the way data was collected.

3.1 Research design

A quantitative approach was followed. Quantitative research is an inquiry into an identified problem, based on testing a theory, measured with numbers, and analyzed using statistical techniques. The goal of quantitative methods is to determine whether the predictive generalizations of a theory hold true. Survey research is one of the most important areas of measurement in applied social research. The broad area of survey research encompasses any measurement procedures that involve asking questions of respondents. A “survey” can be anything forms a short paper-and-pencil feedback form to an intensive one-on-one in-depth interview (Trochim, 2006).

3.2 Research Subject

The definition of population is generally a large collection of individuals or objects that is the main focus of a scientific query (Castillo, 2009). The study population consisted of the married individual from The Mines Shopping Mall.

Convenience sampling method is used in this study. A sample is a set selected from the population of interest and used to make an inference about the population as a whole Haslam and Mcgarty (2003). Castillo (2009) defines convenience sampling as a non- probability sampling technique where the subjects are selected because of their convenient accessibility and proximity to the researcher. The sample consists of 30 agents base on their availability in the right place at the right time. All subjects were willing to participate and gave their full cooperation during the study.

The sample included 15 females and 15 males of married people. Questionnaires were distributed among available subjects until the sample size reached 30. The subjects were people who were willing to participate in the research and met the sampling criteria.

3.3 Research Instrument

In this survey design research, the research instrument used was questionnaire. Questionnaire is a set of printed or written questions with a choice of answers, devised for the purposes of a survey or statistical study. In this study, information was collected through a prepared set of questions distributed personally to the subjects by the researcher.

Survey questionnaire have advantages over many types of surveys. According to Guj (2010), “they are cheap and can easily target groups of interest in many ways and they can be used to target a large audience in a wide geographical area.”

A set of questionnaire was used to collect the data. All of them consisted of close-ended questions to get precise details. Closed-ended questions are controlled by the researcher and are easier to analyze. However, they can limit the respondents’ answer.

The questionnaires were in English only and consisted of two sections A and B. Section A aimed at participants’ demographic data such as age, gender and others. Section B focused on determining the differences between single life and married life. Guidelines for the participants whether to tick the answer were included on the questionnaire.

3.2.1 The sampling criteria

Subjects included in the sample were selected as they meet the sampling criteria set by the researcher. The participants had to meet the following criteria to be included in the sample.

They should be:

Mentally sound in order to be consent to participation

Willing to participate

Either of any sex

Of any race

3.3 Research Instrument

In this survey design research, the research instrument used was questionnaire. Questionnaire is a set of printed or written questions with a choice of answers, devised for the purposes of a survey or statistical study. In this study, information was collected through a prepared set of questions distributed personally to the subjects by the researcher.

Survey questionnaire have advantages over many types of surveys. According to Guj (2010), “they are cheap and can easily target groups of interest in many ways and they can be used to target a large audience in a wide geographical area.”

A set of questionnaire was used to collect the date. All of them consisted of close-ended questions to get precise details. Close-ended questions are controlled by the researcher and are easier to analyze. However, they can limit the respondents’ answer.

The questionnaires were in English only and consisted of two section A and B. Section A aimed at participants’ demographic data such as age, gender and others. Section B focused on determining the differences between single life and married life. Guidelines for the participants whether to tick the answer were included on the questionnaire.

3.4 Research Location

The research was conducted at The Mines Shopping Mall which falls at Jalan Dulang, Selangor Darul Ehsan. It following a major revamp and Fun, Food Fashion & Future as its key messages and core values to provide a better, greater shopping experience to its patrons.

3.5 Data Analysis

The data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel. Frequency tables were drawn and from these, the data was presented in pie diagrams and bar graphs.

3.6 Conclusion

The researcher used a quantitative and survey research design. The questionnaires were checked by lecturer after finish prepared. Then the researchers were collected the data of 30 subjects of convenient sample with equal numbers of male and female.

This chapter discuss about the research design such as survey, experiment, and case study. And also learned about types of sampling that including random sampling and non-random sampling. To complete the research, types of questionnaires options like ranking scale or likert scale was required for researchers.

CHAPTER 4
FINDINGS
4.0 Introduction

This chapter discusses about the findings obtained from the data collected in the form of questionnaires. Pie charts and bar charts were drawn for better analyzing purpose.

4.1 Demographic Data

The data for this study were obtained from married shoppers at The Mines shopping mall. The sample composition was 15 (50 percent) male and 15 (50 percent) female (see Figure 1).Majority of the respondent (60 percent) are Chinese, following by Indian (13 percent, Malay (20 percent) and other races (7 percent)(see Figure 2).Participants ranged in age from 17 through 50 years with the majority of respondent under the age of 40 years (see Figure 3)Participant ranged in income level from RM1000 to RM 4000.The majority of respondent (63 percent) had income under RM1000 or RM1999 .Most of the remaining participants (37 percent) had income more than RM2000( see Figure 4).Majority of the respondent (30 percent) are student, following by employee (23 percent),homemaker (20 percent)self employed (20 percent) and retired( 7 percent) (see Figure 5).

Figure 1: Number of male and female participants in this study.

Figure 2: Races of participants in this study.

Figure 3: Age group of participants in this study.

Figure 4: Income level of participants in this study.

Figure 5: Employment Status if participants in this study.

4.2 Single Life vs. Married Life

Figure 1: Preference among male and female about single and married life.

Figure 1 show that the preference among male and female about which categories does individual prefer. 8 of male respondents were preferred married life while 6 of male respondents were preferred single life. However, that is 1 of male respondent was preferred both that is married and single life. Furthermore, the right side of graph show that the preference among female about which categories does individual prefer. 6 of female respondents were preferred married life while 6 of female respondents were preferred single life. However, that is 3 of female respondent was preferred both that is married and single life.

CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION
5.0 Introduction

This chapter summarizes the entire research work by coming to a conclusion and finalizes the results. Recommendations will also be given in this chapter.

5.1 Summary of the study
This research was conducted mainly to examine if there is any differences between married and single life. Understanding the similarities and differences between married and single life among gender can help figure out the society is prefer single or married life. This was a quantitative research and the methodology used was survey using questionnaire as the research instrument. A convenient sampling was used to get 30 participants with equal numbers of male and female who are married since the topic is based on single and married life. The questionnaires were handed out at The Mines Shopping Mall.
5.2 Findings
The preliminary analysis of the data revealed that out of 15 male respondents, 8 of male who preferred married life more than single life. However, there are 6 out of 15 male respondents were preferred single life instead of married life. There are several statements where by one of male respondent was preferred both. Nevertheless, the result of prefer single or married life among 15 female respondents were equal which is 6 of respondents preferred single life and 6 of respondents preferred married life. The rest of the female respondents (3 respondents) were preferred both. This result was obtained through questionnaire while conducting the survey.
5.3 Conclusions
The average age of getting married was keep rising nowadays. People do believe the life after getting married would be changing. Responsibility is one of the main reasons of individual who doesn’t wants to get married. While single people are just self-responsible, married people are responsible for their partners. Beyond that, individual would lose their freedom after getting married. They can’t spend all the times with their job or friends but have to spend some times for their partner too. Here are just some of the reasons that people choosing being single instead of married. However, married people might not agree with that. According to the research, we can see that married people are preferred married life instead of single life. The reason could be life has more happiness with their partners, or the life is not that bad as single people aspect. They experienced joyfulness through marriage. So, married people do prefer married life instead of single life.
5.4 Recommendations

The findings in this study may be limited with the time is constrained. It is yet to be verified that whether conclusions reached here will hold in other organizations or countries. It is also much advisable to allocate more time for this study to obtain a more detail and reliable information. A larger sample population should also be taken into consideration. However, the results obtain in this study could be used as guidelines for other as a guideline to study the respond of individual on single and married life.

References

Merriam Webster. (2013). m-w.com. Retrieved february 12, 2013, from merriam webster: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/marriage

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Alois Stutzer and Bruno S. Frey. (2003). Does marriage make people happy, or do happy people get married? The Journal of Socio-Economics , 22.

Argyle. (1999).

Berryman, P. (2012).

Cristen Conger. (n.d.).

Financial Times. (n.d.).

Hampton, C. (2006).

Linda J., W., & Maggie, G. (2011). Retrieved from http://books.google.com.my/books/about/The_Case_for_Marriage.html?id=ASfw0zU65tUC&redir_esc=y

Merriam Webster. (2013). m-w.com. Retrieved february 12, 2013, from merriam webster: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/marriage

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