Using Marital Attitudes in Late Adolescence to Predict Later Union Transitions

Using a sample of 982 late adolescents and tracking them throughout young adulthood, this study investigated if marital attitudes held during the last year of high school were predictive of union transitions to both cohabitation and marriage during young adulthood. Results using both logistic regression and discrete event history models found that marital attitudes did not have significant associations with the transition to cohabitation but did significantly predict the probability of transitioning to marriage during young adulthood. Specifically, having a younger expected age of marriage and placing more importance on marriage at the end of adolescence was associated with an increased likelihood of transitioning to marriage earlier than other young adults.