결혼관의 개념화 및 측정의 이슈: 국내 선행연구 고찰

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to critically review quantitative studies on attitudes toward marriage with a focus on the conceptualization and measurement in South Korea. We carefully reviewed 108 Korean journal articles published between January 2010 and July 2021 to understand how attitudes toward marriage were conceptualized and measured including the sub-domains. First, the studies lacked academic agreement in terminology and definitions. The studies used mixed terms and different definitions. Studies tended to cite well-known definitions without carefully considering the uniqueness of related terms and measures in each study. Second, attitudes toward marriage have been measured inconsistently, and the measures have been restricted, which threatens the validity and reliability of the measures. The wording of the items and response categories also varied. The studies based on the attitudes scales selected different measures and constructed sub-domains differently. Because we found no conceptual framework in the literature, we applied the marital paradigm, a conceptual model proposed in the U.S., to categorize the items used in the selected Korean studies. It is imperative to refine the way that attitudes toward marriage are conceptualized in Korea and to develop a new conceptual framework that is sensitive to contemporary marriage trends.