Marriage Formation in Vietnam: Characteristics and Changes

Abstract

This chapter analyzes characteristics and changing patterns of marriage formation in Vietnam over the past 50 years, from various aspects including the motives underpinning marriage decision-making, the process of mate acquaintance, the criteria for mate selection, and marriage decision-making rights. The chapter is based on a review of data derived from the Vietnam Family Survey 2006 (MOCST et al., 2008) and the Vietnam Marriage Survey 2017 (Minh, 2021). It shows that the pattern of marriage formation in Vietnam has changed significantly in the past decades under the influence of various socio-economic and legal factors. Marriage is increasingly associated with the value of personal happiness. People today have many more opportunities to meet and get to know each other before marriage than older generations in the past. Adolescents spend more time getting to know their future spouse and have more options when choosing future partners before marriage. Marriage based on a partner’s individual qualities is preferred, gradually replacing mate selection based on family background. Parents’ power over their children’s marriage has decreased, while young people are becoming more and more independent in making decisions about their lives. In other words, today, it is the interests of the people involved in the marriage that matters, not only the interests of the family and kinship that determines marriages. However, despite these new marriage formation patterns, the belief that children’s marriage is an important affair for the whole family is still maintained. The general pattern is that there is a mix of personal factors and family circumstances regarding the marriage choices.

Citation

Minh, N.H. and Huong, B.T. (2023), "Marriage Formation in Vietnam: Characteristics and Changes", Hernández, A.J.C. and Blair, S.L. (Ed.) Conjugal Trajectories: Relationship Beginnings, Change, and Dissolutions (Contemporary Perspectives in Family Research, Vol. 22), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 109-127. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1530-353520230000022006