Mothers, Daughters, and Marriage (Intergenerational Differences in Marriage Attitudes in the City of Yazd, Iran)

Intergenerational change in family attitudes and behaviours is one of main areas of demographic researches in recent years. In this study we examine gradual shift in marriage attitudes and values by comparing the extent of intergenerational differences and similarities between married mothers and their adolescent children. A unique dataset collected through a face-to-face survey interview in the city of Yazd, have been used for the study. A sub-sample of participants consists of 155 mother-daughter dyads were selected for analysis.Findings indicate that there is an intergenerational consensus on ideal age at marriage, and opposition to polygamous marriage, reflecting a high stability in these attitudinal domains. On the contrary, there are also significant intergenerational disagreements on such attitudinal items as timing of first birth, relative (consanguine) marriage, mode of mate selection, and attitude towards singlehood, with daughter's attitudes tend to be more modern. These intergenerational differences in marriage attitudes could be attributable to both ideational shift as well as intergenerational differences in socio-economic status including higher education, wage employment and urban origins of daughter generation. Although intensity of intergenerational differences in our research site is not profound, results are indicative of a gradual change in family values and attitudes in Iran.