Analysis of the Influencing Factors of Chinese Youth's Marriage

Intention Based on Regression Analysis

Xianjing Huang

School of Mathematics and Information Science, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510006, China

Keywords: Chinese Youth, Marriage Intention, Influencing Factors, Education Policies.

Abstract: China is grappling with a challenging situation regarding young people’s marriages. Key symptoms include

a rising average age at first marriage, a downward trend in the marriage rate, and an uptick in the divorce rate.

The topic of young people’s love and marriage has gradually emerged as a prominent social concern. The

present research endeavors to identify the factors influencing young people’s marriages in China. Moreover,

it aims to put forward practical recommendations to address the obstacles that prevent young people from

getting married. Firstly, a questionnaire was made to obtain the data of the influencing factors of young

people's marriage willingness in China. Then, the correlation of the factors influencing young people's

marriage in China was determined, and regression analysis was conducted after processing these data. The

analysis results show that marriage behavior attitude, individual confidence, resource control, external

environment, and individual factors can significantly positively influence the willingness of marriage

behavior. In light of this, guiding young people to cultivate a healthy outlook on marriage and love, refining

relevant policies and systems, and elevating the quality of marriage and relationship services assume crucial

importance. Such initiatives are not only instrumental in promoting the healthy progression of young people’s

romantic and marital lives but also play a significant role in contributing to the construction of a harmonious

society.

1 INTRODUCTION

In traditional Chinese culture, marriage holds a

significant position. However, as society evolves,

people's perspectives have also undergone

changes: some choose not to marry, some hesitate

to take the plunge, and others desire marriage but

struggle to find a suitable partner.Official data

reveals that in the first quarter of 2022, only 2.107

million couples registered their marriages, marking

a 1.17% year-on-year decrease. If this trend persists,

the marriage rate is expected to continue its

downward trajectory.This phenomenon can be

attributed to multiple factors: exorbitant betrothal

gifts, a skewed gender ratio, women's growing

independence, shifting attitudes toward marriage,

the high costs associated with marriage and child-

rearing, and intense work pressure.The increasing

number of young people who remain unmarried

and childless will accelerate the aging of the

population, disrupt the

balanced age structure, and

https://orcid.org/0009-0000-0879-5408

ultimately lead to the depletion of China's

demographic dividend (Zhang ,Wei ,& Meng B,2022).

Over recent years, China has witnessed a consistent

annual decline in its marriage rate. Data from the

Ministry of Civil Affairs reveals that in 2015, there

were 12.247 million marriage registrations, with a

marriage rate of 9.0%. By 2021, this figure dropped

to 7.643 million, with the rate falling to 5.4%. In the

initial three quarters of 2022, the number of marriage

registrations further decreased to 5.445 million (Sun,

2024). With the acceleration of the second

demographic transition, the age of first marriage has

been postponed, the marriage rate has decreased, and

new forms of marriage and childbirth such as late

marriage, late childbirth, non marriage, infertility,

cohabitation, divorce, and homosexuality have

become increasingly popular choices for the younger

generation (Zhang & Wang, 2024). In the context of

the normalization of population aging in China,

young people should be encouraged to marry and

Huang, X.

Analysis of the Inﬂuencing Factors of Chinese Youth’s Marriage Intention Based on Regression Analysis.

DOI: 10.5220/0013833000004708

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Innovations in Applied Mathematics, Physics, and Astronomy (IAMPA 2025), pages 567-572

ISBN: 978-989-758-774-0

567

have children at the right age to promote the fertility

rate and optimize the population structure, which is in

line with the current population policy and

development trend (Ji, 2024).

Whether young people enter into marriage is the

result of multiple intertwined factors, influenced not

only by their economic conditions, career

development, and other objective conditions, but also

by their attitudes towards marriage, as well as

external environmental factors such as relevant social

policies and public opinion. Currently, scholars have

conducted extensive research on the influencing

factors of youth marriage.

Ji (2024) pointed out that the autonomy of

Chinese youth in choosing a spouse has increased,

and arranged marriages by parents have decreased.

The popularization of higher education has led to a

clear trend of late marriage; although graduate

students can get married during their studies, it is still

not mainstream. Li, Cheng, & Teng (2025) pointed

out that policies that support the career development

of young people are an important way to promote

marriage and childbearing of appropriate age.

Providing more opportunities for unmarried young

people to meet the opposite sex and promote marriage

is an important marriage support measure. Having a

stable housing environment is the foundation for

building a family. Li (2024) pointed out that the

family is the first place where we receive education,

and college students' views on marriage, love, and

family are also influenced by intergenerational

transmission from parents. The interaction patterns

between parents and the harmonious atmosphere of

the family will affect whether college students form a

family and how they handle their relationship with

their spouse. Liu (2024) pointed out that more and

more alternatives to love are being developed and

launched, which can provide companionship,

comfort, happiness, and other experiences similar to

love with only a small amount of money, time, and

energy. This is deeply loved by Generation B and has

also influenced Generation Z youth to form a

generational love concept. Wren, Yi & Zhang (2019)

proposed that the rise in housing prices in China hurts

the marriage rate of young people, while the increase

in living costs has an impact on the marriage rate.

Chen, Malov & Abdullah (2025) believe that as

opportunities for self-sufficiency increase, marriage

becomes more of a choice rather than a necessity for

many women. Therefore, young women often focus

more on their careers rather than adapting to

traditional family roles. Although unmarried women

are increasingly recognizing their autonomy in

marriage decision-making and challenging traditional

norms, they also face a tense relationship between

personal desires and societal expectations. This has

led to various attitudes towards marriage. Wren, Yi &

Zhang (2019) found that for every 1% increase in

housing prices, the average marriage rate decreases

by 0.31%. Amanda Kerr (2023) believes that

relatively scarce women tend to favor men with

relatively strong economic prospects. In summary,

factors such as changes in marriage attitudes,

economic pressure, technological development, and

gender ratio differences collectively affect the

marriage and love decisions of contemporary youth.

This article uses quantitative analysis methods to

conduct in-depth exploration and analysis of the

research. This research is dedicated to exploring the

marriage - related inclinations of those who are yet to

tie the knot. Detailed data analysis was conducted on

valid questionnaire samples using SPSS software to

test the validity of the research hypothesis and model.

2 DATA SOURSE AND METHODS

INTRODUCTION

As a research method, the core of the questionnaire

survey is to collect scientific and accurate information

by designing a series of questions and asking the

respondents to fill them out. Firstly, a questionnaire

was designed on Wenjuanxing, and a total of 400

questionnaires were collected both online and offline.

Among them, basic background information of young

people is collected by asking questions such as age,

gender, region, occupation, education status, monthly

income, whether they are only children, and marital

status. The issue of individual confidence dimension

focuses on young people's confidence in themselves

in marriage. The dimension of resource control

revolves around the time and economic resources

required for marriage, asking young people whether

they have sufficient time to choose and get along with

their marriage partners and whether they can accept

the current cost of marriage. The study examines the

impact of external environment and individual factors

on young people's willingness to marry.

In this study, the core target variable of the

questionnaire—young people's willingness to

marry—was gauged by directly asking, “Are you

extremely willing to get married?”. This variable is

closely linked to the preceding questionnaire

dimensions and was used to explore the relationship

between various influencing factors and marriage

willingness. The study aimed to explore the marriage

intentions of unmarried individuals. The eighth

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question screened participants' marital status,

allowing for the selection of valid questionnaires

specifically from unmarried respondents. As a result,

232 fully completed questionnaires were deemed

valid, with an effective rate of 58%. Subsequently, a

comprehensive data analysis was carried out on these

valid samples to verify the research hypotheses and

their corresponding models.

The research centered on a thorough analysis of

the collected questionnaire data. First, reliability and

validity tests were executed. Next, descriptive

statistical analyses were conducted, followed by an

exploration of group differences, correlation analysis,

and the construction of linear regression models. The

research findings were presented systematically in

tables and model diagrams. This visual presentation

ensured clear and efficient communication of the

research outcomes.

3 RESULT ANALY SIS

3.1 Reliability and Validity Analysis

3.1.1 Reliability Analysis (RA)

For the scale data, reliability and validity analyses

were carried out. Initially, Cronbach’s Alpha was

adopted to assess data reliability. Generally, in

reliability assessment, a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient

of 0.7 or higher indicates high reliability of the

questionnaire, making it suitable for subsequent

relevance analysis. As presented in Table 1, every

dimension of the questionnaire in this research

boasted Cronbach’s alpha coefficients exceeding 0.7.

Additionally, the Corrected Item-Total Correlation

(CITC) values were all greater than 0.4. Furthermore,

the Cronbach’s alpha coefficients obtained after item

deletion were consistently lower than those of the

original dimensions. This strongly indicates a high

level of overall reliability for the questionnaire.

Table 1: RA Table

Dimension topic

Revised item and

total correlation

Clone Bach Alpha

after deletin

items

Cronbach alpha

coefficient

Overall

reliabilit

Attitude towards

Marriage Behavior

1 0.829 0.903

0.926

0.877

2 0.814 0.907

3 0.819 0.906

4 0.846 0.897

Individual

confidence

1 0.780 0.853

0.892

2 0.788 0.846

3 0.796 0.839

Resource control

1 0.859 0.868

0.920 2 0.842 0.882

3 0.814 0.904

External

environment

1 0.835 0.884

0.919 2 0.836 0.884

3 0.838 0.882

Individual factors

1 0.823 0.873

0.912

2 0.800 0.892

3 0.847 0.853

2 1.000 1.000

3 1.000 1.000

3.1.2 Validity Analysis (VA)

Subsequently, the factor analysis method was

employed to conduct a validity analysis. In the realm

of validity analysis, it is generally acknowledged that

when the KMO value exceeds 0.7, the questionnaire

data is suitable for factor analysis. As can be observed

from Table 2, the KMO test yielded a result of 0.834,

which is greater than 0.7. Additionally, the Sig value

of the Bartlett sphericity test was 0.000, less than

0.001. This indicates significant effectiveness at the

0.001 significance level, further validating the

suitability of the data for factor analysis.

Further in-depth analysis shows from Table 3 that

the five factors extracted from the questionnaire can

explain a total variance of 84.403%, indicating that

the these factors effectively explain the data. Also,

they retain most of the original information,

maintaining the integrity of initial dataset.

Simultaneously, the first factor accounts for 35.988%

of the variance. Since this value is under 40%, it

Analysis of the Inﬂuencing Factors of Chinese Youth’s Marriage Intention Based on Regression Analysis

569

suggests that the data is free from significant common

method bias.

Table 2: KMO and Bartlett tests

KMO sampling suitability quantity. 0.834

Bartlett sphericity

test

Approximate chi

uare

2780.74

freedo

120

significance 0.000

Table 3: Explanation of Total Variance

Initial eigenvalue Extract the sum of squared loads Sum of squared rotational loads

Total

Variance

percentage

Accumulate % Total

Variance

percentage

accumulate % total

Variance

percentage

accumulate %

5.758 35.988 35.988 5.758 35.988 35.988 3.292 20.574 20.574

2.568 16.048 52.036 2.568 16.048 52.036 2.612 16.323 36.897

1.991 12.443 64.479 1.991 12.443 64.479 2.589 16.184 53.081

1.838 11.489 75.968 1.838 11.489 75.968 2.562 16.010 69.091

1.350 8.435 84.403 1.350 8.435 84.403 2.450 15.313 84.403

0.331 2.071 86.474

0.297 1.859 88.333

0.279 1.746 90.078

0.269 1.683 91.761

0.237 1.484 93.245

0.228 1.423 94.669

0.204 1.277 95.946

0.185 1.155 97.101

0.177 1.106 98.207

0.145 0.909 99.116

0.141 0.884 100.000

Four main factors were extracted through

principal component analysis: attitude towards

marriage behavior, individual confidence, resource

control, and external environment. The loadings of all

factors are relatively high, indicating a significant

correlation between each indicator and its

corresponding factor, and the factors have good

reliability and validity.

3.2 Correlation Analysis

To understand the relationships between various

elements—attitudes toward marriage behavior,

individual confidence, resource control, external

environment, individual factors, and the willingness

to marry—Pearson correlation analysis was

employed. According to Table 4, attitudes towards

marriage behavior were significantly positively

correlated with individual confidence, external

environment, individual factors, and willingness to

marry (P<0.01), but not significantly correlated with

resource control (P>0.05). Individual confidence is

significantly positively correlated with resource

control, external environment, individual factors, and

marriage intention (P<0.01). Resource control is

significantly positively correlated with external

environment, individual factors, and marriage

intention (P<0.05). Statistical analysis revealed a

strong positive correlation between the external

environment and individual factors, as well as

between the external environment and marriage

intention, both at a highly significant level (P < 0.01).

Similarly, a significant positive relationship was

found between individual factors and marriage

intention, with statistical significance at the P < 0.01

level. This indicates that as the external environment

becomes more conducive, individual factors are

likely to be more favorable, and both contribute to an

increased likelihood of marriage intention.

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Table 4: Related analysis table

Attitude towards

Marriage Behavio

Individual

confidence

Resource

control

External

environment

Individual

factors

Willingness

to marr

Attitude towards

Marria

e Behavio

1.000

Individual confidence 0.364** 1.000

Resource control 0.097 0.296** 1.000

External environment 0.327** 0.421** 0.142* 1.000

Individual factors 0.333** 0.274** 0.194** 0.280** 1.000

Willin

ness to marr

0.531** 0.497** 0.347** 0.404** 0.459** 1.000

Note: * indicates P<0.05, * * indicates P<0.01

3.3 Regression Analysis

Use linear regression to analyze marriage behavior

attitude, individual confidence, resource control,

external environment, and individual factors as

independent variables, and marriage behavior

intention as the dependent variable.

According to Table 5, the R ² of the model is

0.494, indicating a good fit. The F value is 43.851,

and the P value is 0.000. The regression analysis

results showed that attitudes towards marriage,

individual confidence, resource control, external

environment, and individual factors all had a

significant positive impact on the willingness to

marry (P<0.05).

Table 5: Regression analysis table

Independent variable

Nonstandardized coefficient Standardized

Coefficient

t significance

B standard error Beta

constan

-0.6773 0.266 2.544 0.012

Attitude towards Marria

e Behavio

0.3675 0.061 0.322 6.012 0.000

Individual confidence 0.2537 0.068 0.211 3.754 0.000

Resource control 0.2080 0.054 0.193 3.848 0.000

External environmen

0.1337 0.060 0.119 2.212 0.028

Individual factors 0.2455 0.057 0.223 4.291 0.000

R² 0.494

F 43.851

P 0.000

4 CONCLUSION

This article focuses on the analysis of factors

influencing the marriage intention of Chinese youth

based on regression analysis. Through quantitative

research, the study explores the marriage intention of

the youth group and identifies five levels of

influencing factors: attitudes towards marriage

behavior, individual confidence, resource control,

external environment, and individual factors. The

results showed that attitudes towards marriage,

individual confidence, resource control, external

environment, and individual factors can significantly

and positively affect the willingness to marry.

This study suggests that enhancing the

willingness of Chinese youth to get married requires

multi-party collaboration. Social media should

promote positive views on marriage, schools and

communities should carry out marriage education and

provide professional marriage counseling services,

families should provide support and guidance, and the

government should introduce economic incentive

policies. Through a multi-level support system, create

a good marriage atmosphere and enhance young

people's confidence in getting married.

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