Abstract
Marriage is an important institution that upholds society’s values. Thus an important decision for any adult is to select appropriate life partner. The definition of appropriateness is largely influenced by cultural norms and values. This research was conducted to study trends in potential mate preference characteristics of the Pakistani population. To attain the aforementioned objective, an archival research was conducted. Data was collected from Sunday matrimonial sections of two most widely read newspapers (Daily Jung and Daily Dawn). Entire data was drawn for 3 decades (i.e., 1980 – 2009). The requirements for to-be bride and to-be grooms were noted. Result showed that in both newspapers, Physical attractiveness in to-be brides was the top sought feature in three decades, whereas for to-be grooms, working or being educated were the most required traits. It shows that most of the requirements remained same, still few changes were noted within the three decades.
Highlights
Data collected from Sunday matrimonial sections of two popular newspapers: Daily Dawn (English) and Daily Jung (Urdu) served as the sampling frame for this study
The list of requirement criteria gathered from the advertisements was clustered together under the following major categories: Physical appearance, Personality attributes, Education, Financial status, Green card/Foreign, Professional/Working, Ethnic background, Family background, Marital status, Religious sect and Miscellaneous
In the 90’s, Education was completely replaced with Profession in second place and Marital status in third place
Summary
Jung ------ 3.81 ------ ------ 5.17 4.66 9.19 ------ ------ ------Marital Dawn ------ ------ ------ 4.97 ------ ------ ------ 7.01 ------ 2.02Religious Dawn ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ Sect Misc.As Table 2 shows overall the 80’s showed a decline for the requirement criteria of physical appearance. Marital status and religious sect were given less importance over this decade showing an increase only in the last two years. Compared to the 80’s, this decade (Table 3) showed an increase in importance of marital status and religious sect. The mid 90’s showed a marked increase in demands for financial status and ethnic background. Compared to the last two decades, the 2000’s (Table 4) showed a slight decrease in the demands for physical appearance as demands for other requirements such as marital status, religious sect and ethnic background increased. The 90’s showed a marked decrease for religious sect requirements before increasing slightly at the end. Compared to the first two decades, demands of physical appearance for grooms to-be have shown a marked decrease.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
