Study: Mature singles who don't expect to marry

Single mature adults who do not expect to marry represent a small, but distinct, group of adults who differ in key ways from "mature singles" who do plan to marry, according to a new report.

For instance, those who do not plan to marry generally have lower median incomes and are less likely to have a university degree. They are also more likely be single parents, especially if they are women.

The study, which used data from the 2001 General Social Survey on family and marital history, estimated there were more than 1.1 million mature singles in Canada in 2001. Of those, about half, or 550,000, did not expect to marry.

It defined mature singles as men and women older than the average age at which people first marry (28 for women, 30 for men), but not yet past prime working-age, that is, younger than 55.

The key distinction between mature singles who did not expect to marry and those who did related to their attitudes. Individuals who did not expect to marry had decidedly less conventional views about the importance of love, marriage and family.

The odds that a man did not expect to marry were nearly five times greater if he did not believe that being part of a couple was important, all other factors being equal. The odds of not planning to marry were three times greater for women who felt that way.

Similarly, mature singles, who placed no real importance on being married had very high odds that they would not think of getting married. In general, they were about eight times more likely not to marry than those who considered marriage important.

Age was also a prime predictor of marital expectations, especially for women. For instance, the likelihood of not marrying was up to 13 times greater for mature single women in their early 50s than for those aged 35 to 39.

The study also found that mature men and women who did expect to marry were equally (68%) agreed on the importance of having children to being happy. However, those who did not see themselves getting married were sharply split on the issue. In fact,  52% of women and 34% of men felt children were an important factor in being happy.

Some cultural factors also had an impact. For example, the odds of not expecting marriage were nearly five times higher for a male francophone than a male anglophone.

A woman living in Quebec had much higher odds of not expecting marriage, compared with a woman living elsewhere, when the effects of other socio-demographic factors were accounted for.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 4501.

The article "Always the bridesmaid: People who don't expect to marry," is available now in the Summer 2005 edition of Canadian Social Trends, no. 77 (11-008-XIE, $9/$29; 11-008-XPE, $12/$39). This article is also available free online.

For more information or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, please contact Susan Crompton (613-951-2556; susan.crompton@statcan.gc.ca), Social and Aboriginal Statistics Division.