Women who keep surname after marriage are LESS committed - survey
WOMEN who keep their name after marriage don’t really want to be married, a shocking survey has said.
Women who choose to keep their name when married are less committed, according to the survey
More than 900 female and 300 male undergraduates were quizzed in the questionnaire which found women who choose to keep their surname are perceived to be less committed.
As part of the study, students were split into two groups and presented with two identical, brief narratives regarding a couple due to be married.
The only difference is, in one story the woman named Christina chose to keep her surname and in the other, she didn’t.
Students were asked to rate the woman's commitment to marriage in both scenarios
Perceptions of Christina’s commitment to a successful marriage were influenced by her marital surname choice
The students were asked to rate Christina’s commitment to the marriage in both scenarios.
Author of the study Rachael Robnett of the University of Nevada said: “First, participants who were told that Christina retained her own last name rated her as lower in marriage commitment; participants who were told that Christina adopted David’s last name rated her as higher in marriage commitment.
“Put differently, perceptions of Christina’s commitment to a successful marriage were influenced by her marital surname choice.”
The survey also found that wealthy, powerful straight white men reacted particularly poorly to Christina’s decision to keep her own name after marriage.
900 females and 300 males were quizzed during the survey
Ms Robnett told PsyPost: “This effect held even after controlling for variables such as gender, ethnicity, and religiosity, which underscores the strong explanatory power of social dominance orientation.
“These findings suggest that, for some individuals, gender, power, and the marital surname tradition are closely linked.
Wealthy, straight white men will react poorly to a woman's decision to keep her surname
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She added: In conducting this research, my goal is to encourage people to actively consider gender-role traditions that receive relatively little attention due to being so commonplace. If this research can spark conversations between friends, family, or romantic partners, that goal has been accomplished.”
The piece, entitled: “She Might be Afraid of Commitment: Perceptions of Women Who Retain Their Surname After Marriage” was co-authored by Paul Nelson and Kristin Anderson