I need help! Take my survey!

[Onhech]

I have posted a similar survey about marriage on here before but I need more responses if I could get it. If you could spend a minute to do this survey it would be very appreciated

I am taking a survey on ideal ages to get married (though other religious perspectives are very much appreciated and are factored in). It is 8 questions and could be taken in 4 minutes. It would help me if you took it at The Marriage Ideal Survey . Please take the survey BEFORE you read the thread if you are going to take it so as to avoid bias.

Note to troublemakers

I realize that the survey is restrictive and does not fit nearly anyone's beliefs about marriage - everyone is different. I have a lot of people that want a range but for the purpose and scope of the survey a singular number is required. It would be helpful if, even if you did not fully agree, you placed an ideal age (assuming that everything is perfect and feels good) that you feel would be a "good" age to get married. Most would agree 14 is generally too young and 50 too old, so I'm asking "under ideal circumstances, assuming everything is ideal at what age would be most ideal age to get married at?"

LINK--->Marriage Survey

Edited February 29, 2012 by Onhech

[Maureen]

What happens if you can't remember if you've taken the survey before?

M.

[applepansy]

50 isn't even close to too old. And neither is 90.

btw, I answered your survey so I figure I can now have an opinion

[Onhech]

if you don't remember get your spouse or friend to take it :)

Maybe I should have put 50 (for a first marriage) is seen by most as less-than-ideal. You can't even have kids if the woman is over 50. Send this survey to your friends! I only have 11 responses so far

[Onhech]

Thanks to everyone who has/is taking this. It is helping me a lot!

[sdl54]

I wrote 45 as ideal age, but really I never want to get married lol.

But at least then you can go enjoy your life being single and test the guys out

[Onhech]

Yeah! I remembered that one and you left me a little note that made me smile. I'm from BC too btw(I hope it is okay for me to say that on here), I'm from Maple Ridge. Thanks for the contribution. FYI the atheist and agnostic means are MUCH higher than the LDS means.

Atheists (m/f ideal age) =31.00/30.07

Agnostic (m/f ideal age) = 27.12/26.50

LDS (m/f ideal age) = 23.92/22.28

Edited February 9, 2012 by Onhech

[Bini]

Yeah! I remembered that one and you left me a little note that made me smile. I'm from BC too btw(I hope it is okay for me to say that on here), I'm from Maple Ridge. Thanks for the contribution. FYI the atheist and agnostic means are MUCH higher than the LDS means.

Atheists (m/f ideal age) =31.00/30.07

Agnostic (m/f ideal age) = 27.12/26.50

LDS (m/f ideal age) = 23.92/22.28

Mid 20's is a great age to consider marriage, and mid 20's to early 30's is a good time to consider children. I'd never recommend anyone marry before 21 or have kids.

[Bini]

Oh yeh, took the quiz

[Onhech]

Thanks Bini. Another some other interesting statistics

Single LDS Males think the Ideal age to get married:

Male=23.61

Female=21.63

Difference between the ideals=1.98 years

Single LDS Females think the ideal age to get married is:

Male=23.97 (.36 of a year older than the males opinion)

Female=22.30 (.87 years older than the males opinion)

Difference between the ideals=1.67 years (.31 years shorter than the males)

So essentially females believe that you should get married older than the males generally think and they think that the ideal age gap is smaller than males. Why would this be?

[JudoMinja]

Thanks Bini. Another some other interesting statistics

Single LDS Males think the Ideal age to get married:

Male=23.61

Female=21.63

Difference between the ideals=1.98 years

Single LDS Females think the ideal age to get married is:

Male=23.97 (.36 of a year older than the males opinion)

Female=22.30 (.87 years older than the males opinion)

Difference between the ideals=1.67 years (.31 years shorter than the males)

So essentially females believe that you should get married older than the males generally think and they think that the ideal age gap is smaller than males. Why would this be?

I personally don't really find that difference significant enough to be noteworthy. Maybe... If your survey was answered by an enormous number of people, like at least several thousand. But that difference is very small, and I'm guessing it would be almost null if your survey had been answered by more people.

The trend I find interesting is this one:

Atheists (m/f ideal age) =31.00/30.07

Agnostic (m/f ideal age) = 27.12/26.50

LDS (m/f ideal age) = 23.92/22.28

Because the m/f age difference for each is approximately 1 year, with the male being older. So it seems pretty unanimous that no matter the age people think ideal for marriage, we all generally agree that a man should be about 1 year older than his wife.

Why do you think that is?

[Onhech]

I personally don't really find that difference significant enough to be noteworthy. Maybe... If your survey was answered by an enormous number of people, like at least several thousand. But that difference is very small, and I'm guessing it would be almost null if your survey had been answered by more people.

The trend I find interesting is this one:

Because the m/f age difference for each is approximately 1 year, with the male being older. So it seems pretty unanimous that no matter the age people think ideal for marriage, we all generally agree that a man should be about 1 year older than his wife.

Why do you think that is?

Thanks for your input Judo,

The results are not yet statistically significant as the the Standard Deviation of the two do overlap.

However, in this study the age differences are going to be small to start with particularly in the LDS scene so these numbers although fractions of the year can have significance. I do hope I will eventually get enough surveyed to have significant different between male and female ideal ages. .87 is a fairly decent difference in the female age though so I hope the tend continues and the standard deviation narrows.

I have only about 400 results (83% LDS) so I do need a lot more people answer to make any significance claim in regards to that.

The mean difference between male and female ideal age s overall is 1.5years.

Edited February 16, 2012 by Onhech

[lizzy16]

I'm no where near marriage, i'm 17.

But, I've got a few peers in my classes at age 18/19 getting married. I can't imagine getting married that young.

I want to be 25 when i get married. At least. I've got so much left of life I want to live. I want to teach, travel, go on a mission. ect.

[Vort]

I want to be 25 when i get married. At least. I've got so much left of life I want to live.

So much of life left to live before you get married, huh?

For me, I felt like my life really began when I got married.

[MarginOfError]

please don't make the mistake of concluding that statistical significance means something interesting is going on. With sufficient sample size, you can conclude than any difference is statistically significant. .87 years difference in age amounts to 10.5 months. That really isn't all that different

[Dravin]

So much of life left to live before you get married, huh?

For me, I felt like my life really began when I got married.

Reminds me of the CRV commercial where the guy asks his girlfriend if she wants to get married. Time pauses and then she goes on about how there were so many things she was going to do first (hiking, a luncheon, learning to play the drums, and finishing a short film), then time resumes and she agrees with the caveat that they have a lot to get done first.

My thought the entire time? Why can't you do those when married?

Edited February 16, 2012 by Dravin

[Onhech]

please don't make the mistake of concluding that statistical significance means something interesting is going on. With sufficient sample size, you can conclude than any difference is statistically significant. .87 years difference in age amounts to 10.5 months. That really isn't all that different

MOE

Thanks for your critique and suggestions, they are helpful.

I realize you do not have my data set and cannot know the scope or the current inferential statistics so you are at a disadvantage, I apologize for this. I understand that when you look at 10.5(0.87 years) months in the scope of 90 years of life it does look truly infinitesimal. However, the range of opinion of the ideal age of marriage is so narrow that .87 years is quite a significant difference.

If the range of marriage was 20 years then I would agree that .87 is not really even noticeable (4.35% difference). However, with my current data (Only 400 response) there is a 95%of my results have fallen in a 3.0 year range so to have .87 years difference between sex is a significant difference(29% different).

With an almost 30% difference in the ranges it really makes me wonder (if the difference is true and significant)- why? What is the difference? A secondary question is is it different than non-LDS Audiences and if so why?

I'm not claiming significance, and even if I had the data set that could I would be very hesitant as the methods I have employed to get the data (as in it is a convenience survey done on the Internet and a lot of my friends (being age skewed), but if my results were generally verified at a 2-3k number of responses I would consider the difference to be significant if not the methods able to show statistical significance.

Below is the range breakdown. Interesting to notice that the tightest opinion is the males opinion on when men should get married.

Male Opinion

LDS Single Male Ideal 95% Range = 2.7 Years

LDS Single Female Ideal 95% range = 3.2 Years

Female Opinion

LDS Single Male Ideal 95% Range = 3.1 Years

LDS Single Female Ideal 95% range = 3.2 Years

Edited February 17, 2012 by Onhech

[Vort]

There is a difference between "statistical significance" and "social significance". I believe that MoE is saying that a difference of 10 months might be statistically significant if there are enough responses to warrant it, but that it is of only minor social significance if the ideal age of marriage is (for example) 24 years 1 month versus 24 years 11 months, amounting to barely more than 3% difference in age.

[tholyoak]

Of course, attitudes on this are a product of our culture. Women used to marry much earlier - as soon as they were physically able to bear children - and often to older men.

For me, it's more a matter of when you meet the right person than it is how old you are (assuming you're at an appropriate point in your life, such as post-mission for LDS men). I met my wife when I was 21, we married when I was 22, and I've enjoyed sharing my life experiences with her since then. We started having children within a year of marriage, so we will be able to enjoy our grandchildren while still being relatively young. I believe families are a big part of what life is about, so there's no point putting them off.

[Onhech]

Vort

Thanks for your clarification, I would agree that socially it doesn't make much of a difference if you got married 10.5 months earlier or later. Thanks for putting in the wording you did.

[Bini]

I'm no where near marriage, i'm 17.

But, I've got a few peers in my classes at age 18/19 getting married. I can't imagine getting married that young.

I want to be 25 when i get married. At least. I've got so much left of life I want to live. I want to teach, travel, go on a mission. ect.

I married as a teen and I wasn't in my late-teens either. I wouldn't recommend it that young. There's always exceptions but I'd encourage kids out of high school to pursue an education, meet and date lots of different people, learn the things you want and don't want in a partner, and also learn who they themselves are through the process.

[Onhech]

I married as a teen and I wasn't in my late-teens either. I wouldn't recommend it that young. There's always exceptions but I'd encourage kids out of high school to pursue an education, meet and date lots of different people, learn the things you want and don't want in a partner, and also learn who they themselves are through the process.

Bini,

I realize it is very personal but I would be very interesting in how you felt it has been to get married so young. You don't have to answer anything you don't want to.

Why did you get married so young? What problems did you think you had that you otherwise would not have? What benefits? Does it give you more questions?