Effects of Consumption Wants and Expected Wedding Expenses on Expected Marriage Age among Undergraduate Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of consumption wants and expected wedding expenses on expected marriage age among 384 unmarried undergraduate students enrolled in private universities located in Seoul. The respondents were requested to complete the self-administered questionnaire, and the hierarchical multiple regression analyses were performed for analyzing the data. The major findings of this study were as follows: First, the students showed high levels of consumption wants on the whole. The mean expected wedding expenses was 83,680,000 won, while the mean expected marriage age was 29.76 years. Second, hierarchical regression analyses revealed that the levels of exhibitionistic wants were positively related to students’ expected wedding expenses in the future. This study also found that students’ expected wedding expenses were positively related to their expected marriage age in the future. Therefore, it is needed to provide the undergraduate students the education programs for the rational way of marriage preparation and consumption. The implications of the study results are discussed.