Millennials' Social Representations of a Marriage Partner: a Generational Approach

Abstract

The article presents the results of a comprehensive study devoted to the social representations of Millennials about a marriage partner in comparison with the social representations of Generation X and Baby boomers. Research methods: lexical content analysis of publications (the volume of content is 100 000 printed characters), expert analysis of 327 images, posted in four communities of social network "VKontakte", lexical content analysis of essays (36 respondents aged 23-30 years, 40 000 printed signs), the author's questionnaire of social representations (sample: 525 people, 192 of them – Generation Y, 176 – generation X and 157 – Baby boomers). It is shown that in the social representations of a marriage partner of three generations there are more similarities than differences: the core of the representations of all respondents includes the concepts of responsibility for the well-being of a partner, common goals and plans, the ability to find a way out of difficult situations, as well as the harmonizing function of humor in the family. In Millennials' social representations core there are elements different from other generations: orientation towards the absence of sexual restrictions, as well as the need to resolve conflicts through negotiations. In Millennials' social representations there have been found contradictions concerning attitudes to conflicts, serial monogamy and partner independence. Millennials who devote more than two hours a day to social networks are more likely to agree with popular quotes from the studied communities "VKontakte" about "true" masculinity and femininity.