This paper investigates attitudes that never married young adults (ages 17-24) hold about what is important to accomplish before getting married. Using data from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR), I investigate how a range of socio-economic and demographic variables are related to a high degree of importance to particular achievements before marriage. I then provide in-depth narrative of premarital life-plans drawing on qualitative data from semi-structured interviews conducted with a subsample of NSYR survey respondents. As a result, the preparation for marriage is a diverse experience in which young adults form their strategies based on the combination and accumulation of three forms of capital: Human Capital, Identity Formation Capital, and Relationship Capital. The importance of each seems to be structured by important social institutions. Gender, religion, race/ethnicity, geographic location and family are schema-producing and help shaping what young adults think is necessary to be achieved before marriage.Master of Art
