EDN: https://elibrary.ru/affnwv
DOI: 10.21064/WinRS.2025.2.2
To analyze the development of the institution of marriage, the statement about the difference between evolutionary and transformational changes of the institution is accepted as an alternative to reasoning about the deinstitutionalization of marriage. Indicators of the transformation of marriage can be considered the universalization of marital roles, the increase in the number of premarital sexual relations, premarital and extramarital births, the spread of cohabitation and the increase in the number of divorces. Evidence of the evolution of the institution of marriage are remarriages, international marriages, civil partnerships and same-sex marriages in a number of foreign countries, which were previously uncommon practices. Data from the “Sample Survey of Reproductive Plans of the Population” (RPN-2022) on spouses aged 25—44 with minor children, 2383 wives and 1811 husbands are presented. It was found that, according to the estimates of both wives and husbands, more husbands than wives make a significant contribution to the family budget. Time expenditure by wives on housework and activities with children is more significant than by husbands. The difference in time expenditure by wives with higher education and their husbands on housework and activities with children is smaller than in the sample as a whole. Universalization of marital roles occurs more intensively in marriages of spouses with higher education. Time expenditure on communication with children by both mothers and fathers, both on weekdays and weekends, is not related to the number of children, level of education and material level of the household. The ideology of intensive parenting is spreading among all social groups. Unlike a number of developing countries with a high marriage rate and a low divorce rate, and post-industrial countries, where cohabitation is common, marriage and divorce rates are low, marriage and divorce rates are high, and final celibacy of both men and women is low, the proportion of those in a second marriage is stable in Russia. The share of cohabitants in cities aged 25—69 has remained virtually unchanged from 2009 to 2023. Cohabitation is not an alternative to marriage in Russia, but rather a stage of relationship testing. The specifics of translocal and cross-border marriages have been little studied, as have other options for forced or voluntary, short-term or long-term separation of spouses.