Lived experiences of married postgraduate students at UNZA regarding marriage mate selection.
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Date
2021
Authors
Banda, Lister
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The University of Zambia
Abstract
Marriage is a fundamental social institution that exists throughout the world. However, marriage mate selection is one of the most important decisions of people’s social life as the possibility of happiness is low in marriage if people do not consider the related significant factors. This study sought to find out the lived experiences of married postgraduate students at UNZA regarding marriage mate selection. This study was qualitative in nature which had 16 (8 males and 8 females) participants, all postgraduate students at UNZA. In terms of research design, this study adopted hermeneutic phenomenology. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews. Findings in this study revealed that people looked for attributes such as education because they believed that marrying a fellow educated person made it easy to relate as their thinking would be aligned. What emerged from the data was that financial stability of a potential marriage partner was also an important attribute that both males and females looked for in their prospective mate. This study further showed that a God-fearing partner was preferred to a non-believer because of the belief that Godly people were less likely to indulge in unholy conduct such as infidelity. On one hand, female participants preferred a man who was tall in height and dark in complexion, while on the other hand, men preferred partners who were beautiful with a small and curvy body structure. In terms of internal attributes, females preferred a mate with attributes such as loving, caring and with good leadership qualities while males preferred someone respectful, intelligent, trustworthy, understanding, one who refrained from taking alcohol. Findings of this study also revealed that not everything that participants expected to be fulfilled in marriage turned out to be exactly that way. Therefore, from the data that emerged in this study, people looked for such attributes as education, God fearing, financial stability and physical appearance and they had reasons for their
preferences. They also had marital expectations they wanted to see being fulfilled although not everything turned out as they had envisioned.
Description
Thesis of Master of Arts Degree in Sociology.