Kasal o Sakal:

An Empirical Study on the views of UPLB Students, Faculty, and Staff

Regarding the Significance of Marriage in the Modern Society

Lomarda, Randall Cahn

Rodriguez, Cecille

Tapia, Sharlene

Viñas, Kimberly

Introduction

Background of the Study

Throughout history, the institution of marriage has been one of the strongest binders of

relationships. It has become the end-goal of certain individuals as it has been regarded as the

starting point of families. Such union has varied throughout cultures (Gough 1959 as cited by

Schwimmer 2003) as it faces different contexts such as same-sex marriage and polygamy. It has

been influenced by religion. Moreover, the possibility of opting out such commitment has been

granted in different states as well through the presence of divorce and annulments. It has been

one of the most discussed relationships (Kim 2011 & Becker 1974) as it changes lives

dramatically in terms of identity, choices, and priorities.

In modern contemporary society, marriage has faced many criticisms: the disability of

people to opt out such option (in countries where divorce is illegal), the failure of certain

religious institutions to grant same-sex marriage, and the rise of the disregard for such institution

through cohabitation. Moreover, the exclusivity of state benefits towards married individuals has

sparked discourse in resource allocation and social behaviour (i.e. the utility level by which

individuals choose to be single, the marriage market in which people compete for partners and

the economic considerations of people deciding to get married).

In regard to the importance of marriage in individual lives and its criticisms, the

researchers ask the question: In the context of the modern society, does it still play a significant

role in the partnership of individuals here in the Philippines? In a relatively conservative society

where the Church has much influence (Gonzalez & Romualdez 2013) and at the same time,

modernizing towards a relatively liberal point of view (i.e. toleration of gays, the rise of

cohabitation, the large appreciation of Western culture, etc.) the Philippines carries a diverse

pool of opinion regarding the matter. Also, considerations must be given to the fact that the

Philippines has varied demographic composition and topographic characteristics such as islands

and in terms of location (urban-rural). From this, there is a relative difference with the kind of

culture a particular society imposes.

In a national university guided with academic freedom and the free flow of discourse,

there is a possibility that the University of the Philippines Los Baños will play a significant role

in shaping the future of Filipino social behaviour. Students and staff of the university come from

varying regional and cultural backgrounds, their opinions from the university trickle down from

their home towns. The attitudes that the university produce are key elements in determining the

stance of the youth approaching the age of marriage. As future leaders and critical thinkers,

UPLB holds a special role given its location and reputation.

Significance of the Study

The research contributes to the enforcement of the decisions individuals take. Individual

accountability and responsibility are performed with informed decisions. Through this, it seeks to

be a reference point for individuals, particularly UPLB students, faculty and staff, in the choices

they make or have made once they reach that particular point in time.

This research also seeks to solve the problem in the lack of understanding by which the

government enact policies such as domestic laws, separation arrangements, the consideration of

same-sex marriage, and the benefits we grant to married individuals.

This research may serve as a reference material for future research that is likely to tackle

similar issues about sexuality, gender, family and marriage in which this paper will be focusing

on.

Objectives of the Study

This research in general seeks to identify the level of importance students, faculty, and

staff attach to the institution of marriage. It seeks to identify the significance of marriage in

individual lives in modern contemporary society.

Moreover, it aims to determine the various factors that shape their decisions regarding

their entry into such durable relationship and how it led to their look towards such union. It

intends to identify how an individual decides with the multiple discourses that exist in such

environment of a national university.

This research will tackle the different meanings people attach to such institution and their

opinion regarding its structure and its relevance towards the vision of people at certain points in

their lives. Lastly, it seeks to explore the expectations of people with the changes, and the

conditions that marriage demands out of individuals to further explain the various considerations

of individuals in entering such relationship.

Scopes and Limitation

This study was conducted to determine whether UPLB students, faculty and staffs still

believe in the institution of marriage. Information will be gathered via prepared questionnaire.

Respondents will be coming from UPLB students, faculty and staffs. The limitation of the study

is that the conclusions that will be obtained shall reflect only the students of UPLB students,

faculty and staffs not other universities and from any level—elementary and high school. This

was conducted at the University of the Philippines Los Baños from July 2013 to October 2013.

Review of Related Literature

Marriage Trends

Marriage trends across the globe have changed through the years. In the past decade,

marriage rate in the United States dropped from 8.2 in 2001 to 6.8 in 2011 (CDC/NHS National

Vital Statistics System). According to Jayson (2013), recent data shows that the U.S. marriage

rate hits its lowest point in more than a century. It is expected to remain low as recession

accelerates the pace of marriage rate decline (National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Census

Bureau). University of Virginia's National Marriage Project reports that marrying age is at its

peak: 26.5 for women and 28.7 for men. 

There is also a decline in the number of registered marriages in the Philippines (National

Statistics Office, Republic of the Philippines). In 2006, the National Statistics Office (NSO)

reports that 17% of the total registered marriage were teenage marriage. 

  According to Williams, Kabamalan and Ogena (2006), Smock said in a recent

symposium on marriage that marriage has retreated because of complex and interrelated set of

social forces such as changing gender roles within and outside marriage, low fertility norms,

norms tolerating alternatives to marriage, including allowance for child bearing outside marriage,

norms tolerating divorce when marriage proves unsatisfactory. 

Quisumbing and Hallman (2003), states that there is a greater personal choice in marriage

as indicated in the increasing correlation between personal characteristics compared to the

correlation between parental characteristics of an individual. Couples are also better educated

and older in more recent marriage (Quisumbing and Hallman). Major social-structural changes

such as increases in educational attainment, urbanization and the emergence of new roles for

single women are associated with the increase in age at marriage (Quisumbing and Hallman).  

Retherford, Westley, Choe, Brown, Mason, and Mishra (2002) said in The Future

Population in Asia that late marriage trends tend to occur in two phases of economic

development: early stages and later stages of economic development. There is difference

between the young adults with education and work experience and teenagers who are still

dependent on their families regarding their decision to marry and who to marry (Retherford, et.

al.).They state that because premarital sex is becoming increasingly acceptable, young people

may find marriage unimportant. They also state that the rise of divorce rates decreases the

likability of people marrying. 

Beliefs about marriage are brought by different factors such as gender inequality.

Subordination of women over men may affect values and beliefs that are attributed to marriage

(Mooney, 2002).

Materials and Methodology

Qualitative method was used by the researches in obtaining and measuring the

respondent's perception regarding marriage as an important institution. Interviews were

conducted for the data collection. Questions in the interview were about their perceptions on

marriage as an important institution. Answers were then analysed by the researchers using a

theoretical and conceptual framework.

The population considered is the list of all students, faculty and staff in the University of

the Philippines at Los Baños in this A.Y. 2013 - 2014. The list of all the students, faculty and

staff was obtained to determine the total sample size and the total number of respondents will be

determined using stratified random sampling of the different colleges and departments. Simple

random sampling will be used for each stratum in order to determine the desired number of

respondents.

The formula used to get the sample size is

n= NpqN

D2 + pq

Where: D=Z α

2

B

The α was set to be 0.05 for the researchers to be 95% confident that the true proportion

of the students, faculty and staff still attach a high level of significance to the concept of

marriage. The value of β was set to be 0.10 for the researchers to have a minimal error of

estimate. The p considered in the formula used in determining the sample size is equal to 0.40.

The researchers also used a Spearman’s Rho Correlation in determining association

between one’s rating of the significance of marriage and the various indices that may have an

effect on such rating such as: religion, media, experiences of break-ups, and current relationship

experiences. Spearman’s Rho was used because the data considered is in the ordinal level.

DATA AND ANALYSIS

Date Presentation

v Number of Respondents

Yes 86

No 9

UPLB’s belief in marriage:

NO = 0.094736842

YES = 0.90526315

Numbers of observation = 95

9.47%

90.52%

Distribution of those who believe and do not believe in marriage

No Yes

Out of 95 respondents, 90.52% say that they believe in marriage while 9.47% do not.

Believes in Marriage

Devout Nominal Uncommitted Doubting Non-believer

yes 29 13 40 2 2

no 1 0 2 3 3

YES Devout = 0.337209302

Nominal = 0.15116279

Uncommitted = 0.465116279

Doubting = 0.023255813

Non-believer = 0.023255813

33.72%

15.11%

46.51%

2.32% 2.32%

Religious Commitment of those who believe in Marriage

Devout Nominal Uncommitted Doubting Non-believer

Out of 90.52% who believes in Marriage, 46. 51% are

Uncommitted, 33.72% are devout, 15.11% are nominal and 2.32% are both doubting and non-believer

NO Devout= 0.1111

Nominal = 0

Uncommitted = 0.2222

Doubting = 0.33333

Non-believer = 0.33333

0.11

0.22

0.33

0.33

Religious Commitment of those people who do not believe in marriage

Devout Nominal Uncommitted Doubting Non-believer

Out of 9.47% of those who do not believe in marriage, 33% are doubting and non-believer, 22% are uncommitted, 11% are devout and 0% are nominal.

Believes in

Marriage

Roman Catholic

Born Again

Baptist Iglesia ni

Cristo

Protestant Christian Agnostic Atheist Methodist

Yes 54 12 4 7 2 1 3 2 3

No 4 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0

YES Roman Catholic = 0.627906976

Born Again = 0.139534883

Protestant= 0.023255813

Baptist = 0.046511627

INC= 0.081395348

Christian= 0.011627906

Methodist=0.03488372 Agnostic=0.03488372

Atheist=0.023255813

62.79%13.95%

2.32%4.65%

8.13%

1.16%

3.48%3.48% 2.32%

Religion of those who believe in marriage

Roman Catholic Born Again Protestant Baptist INCChristian Methodist Agnostic Atheist

Out of 90.52% who believes in marriage, 62.79% are Roman Catholic, 13.95% are born again, 8.13% are INC, 4.65% are Baptists, 3.48% are both Methodist and Agnostic, 2.32% are Atheist, and 1.16% are Christian.

NO

Roman Catholic = 0.44444 Born Again = 0

Protestant= 0 Baptist = 0

INC= 0 Christian= 0

Methodist=0 Agnostic=0.33333

Atheist=0

0.44

0.33

Religious group of those who do not believe in Marriage

Roman Catholic Born Again Baptist INCChristian Methodist Agnostic Atheist

Out of 9.47% of those who do not believe in marriage, only 44% are Roman Catholic and 33% are Agnostic. Moreover there are no respondents who are Born Again, Baptist, INC, Christian, Methodist, and Atheist that do not believe in marriage.

Believes in Marriage Single Married

yes 76 10

no 9 0

89.41%

10.59%

Single

Yes No

Out of the 89.47% respondents who are single, 89.41% believes in marriage, while 10.53% of

the respondents who are married, all of them believes in the concept of marriage.

Believes in Marriage Believes they will have a successful marriage

Believes they will not have a successful marriage

Yes 81 5

No 6 3

91.95%

8.05%

Believes in marriage

Yes No

70%

30%

Did not believe in marriage

Yes No

Out of 90.52% who believes in marriage, 91.95% believes they will have a successful marriage in the future while 8.05% do not. While out of 9.47% who do not believe in marriage 70% believes they will have a successful marriage in the future while 30% do not.

Parents have successful marriage

Parents did not have a successful marriage

Not applicable*

78 6 27 1 1

Yes

Parents have successful marriageParents did not have a successful marriageNot applicable*

NoParents have successful mar-riage

Parents did not have a success-ful marriage

Not applicable*

The majority of the marriage of the parents of respondents who do and don’t believe in marriage is successful.

TVPrinted media

Social Media

Documentaries MoviesNone or others*

41 31 30 46 32 63 6 7 4 3 1

41

31

30

46

32

6

yes

TV Printed mediaSocial Media DocumentariesMovies None or others*

3

6

7

4

31

no

TV Printed mediaSocial Media DocumentariesMovies None or others*

The beliefs of those who believe in marriage are affected mostly by TV however for those who do not believe they are mostly affected by social media.

The correlation one’s rating of the significance of marriage with religion, media, experiences of break-up, and current relationship experience

-Correlation of rating and religion

Number of obs = 95

Spearman's rho = 0.3508

Test of Ho: Rating and Religion are independent

Prob > |t| = 0.0005

-There is a weak and direct relationship between one’s ratings of the significance of marriage with one’s religion

-Correlation of rating and media

Number of obs = 95

Spearman's rho = -0.1352

Test of Ho: RATING and MEDIA are independent

Prob > |t| = 0.1913

-There is a very weak and inverse relationship between one’s ratings of the significance of marriage with media

-Correlation of rating and experiences of break-up

Number of obs = 59

Spearman's rho = 0.1326

Test of Ho: Rating and Breakup are independent

Prob > |t| = 0.3166

-There is a very weak and direct relationship between one’s ratings of the significance of marriage and one’s experiences with break-ups

-Correlation of rating and current relationship experiences

Number of obs = 44

Spearman's rho = 0.3003

Test of Ho: Rating and Relationship are independent

Prob > |t| = 0.0476

-There is a weak and direct relationship between one’s ratings of the significance of marriage and one’s current relationship experiences.

CONCLUSION

The research showed that most of the UPLB population composed mostly of students, faculties

and staffs still believe in marriage but it can’t be denied that some people also do not believe in

marriage at all. Such situation is due to certain factors. First is through their religious beliefs,

those that are still devoted to their respective religious groups still have a strong perception about

marriage probably because of the customs and values that are instilled with them by their

religion. This can be seen through the result in the survey; people think that marriage is a

religious sacrament that’s why they believe in marriage. Second are the expectations attributed

by the population about marriage, most of them expects a family in entering a married life,

therefore people nowadays still desire of having someone, particularly a partner and children

throughout their life. Although some people might think that it is useless and only give one a

financial burden, the possibility of having a family still emerge. Third, those people who believes

in marriage are mainly affected by the television as a form of media, this because everything in

TV is romanticized and so people always think that things will always be perfect no matter what

happens. While those who do not believe in marriage are mainly affected by social media

because of the fact that cheating, deceiving and loss of own identity have a great tendency in this

form of media, and this may be a factor why most people lacks trust with other people and so

through marriage. Fourth is the success of the marriage of one’s parents. However in the

research it is shown that the parents’ marriage of both respondents who believe and do not

believe in marriage are successful; this only shows that the success of the marriage of parents

does not affect the perception of their children regarding marriage. In terms of gender,

heterosexual respondents (either male or female) are more open to the idea of marriage since the

society is more accepting in terms of them engaging in such activity or practice compared to

homosexuals or queers. Lastly, results show that 89.41% of the respondents who are single still

believe in the concept and possibility of marriage.

In general, people still attach a high level of significance to the concept of marriage mainly due

to factors such as expectations, gender, acceptance of the society to the practice and some other

factors such as religion, media, and personal experiences which can be associated with marriage

itself.

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