Views of students on marriage and family: a review of Russian studies

The paper analyzes Russian research on the ideas of students about gender and matrimonial relations. The authors review different works of leading experts in family and youth issues concerning the attitude of young people towards marriage and cohabitation, motives for marriage, the desire/unwillingness to have children, interethnic marriages, and gender equality. The researchers identify the following problems of the above-mentioned studies: the locality, the use of various variables and samples, the lack of monitoring studies on reproductive and parenting roles among upper-year students, the challenge of considering interethnic marriages in Russia, the lack of research into the dynamics of gender stereotypes. The analysis of domestic works related to the matrimonial attitude of the youth demonstrates the changing views on the role of women and men in the family, tolerance towards cohabitation before marriage and conscious child-free choice, postponed marriages and pregnancies. At the same time, the authors note several positive aspects of students’ family attitudes: love is the basic motive for marriage; the students plan to have 2-3 children in the future.