Students' Marital-Family Aspirations in the Light of Studies Conducted Selected Krakow Universities

Abstract

Aspirations are one of the basic factors conditioning the activity of an individual that is expressed in the form of aims, plans, desires, wishes, needs or interests determining young people's further life, and hence also conditioning the probable directions of development future societies may take. It is difficult to undertake the issue of aspirations without taking into consideration their determinants. They depend on a variety of mutually connected factors influencing the personality of an actual man, and also influencing a broader context of his living environment.

The results of the presented studies of marital-family aspirations of students of selected Krakow universities show that a decided majority of them point to love, happiness in the family and winning people's trust as well as finding friends, as the most estimated values. The students expect their future spouse to be faithful, respectful, honest and they expect mutual trust in their marriage. Students of Pedagogy as well as deeply faithful and practicing Catholics are the greatest part of this group of subjects. The respondents most often want to start a family within ten years' time. Due to the preferred model of the family women usually want to form egalitarian families, and men more often plan a patriarchal model. A high material status of the family is usually planned by women as well as by students deeply believing and regularly following religious observances. The subjects consider honesty, truthfulness, respect for oneself and responsibility as very important in educating their own children. The above features are more often valued by Pedagogy students than by students of Power Industry Faculty and Faculty of Medicine.