Marriage role expectations of college students

One hundred-seventy-five students attending Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VPI&SU) were sampled by means of the Marriage Role Expectation Questionnaire (MREQ) in an effort to determine the appropriate sub-scales to be used in the actual test of hypotheses. A total of two hundred students attending VPI&SU were then sampled by means of the MREQ in an effort to study their marital role expectations.

The MREQ was a modified form of Dunn's Marriage Role Expectation Inventory.

It was found at the .05 level that females hold more equalitarian marital role expectations than do males. The sub-scales contributing to this finding were: Authority Roles; Reciprocative Social Behavior; and Attitudes Toward the Work World. Although the hypothesis that students with employed mothers hold more equalitarian marital role expectations than do students with nonemployed mothers was not supported at the .05 level, there was the trend that students with employed mothers do hold more equalitarian expectations for marriage. No significant difference was found to exist between freshmen and seniors.