This article presents the results of the study Perception, interest and motivation of young people in starting a family, focused on finding out how young people today conceive the family unit, and their concerns and motivations in this regard. To this end, a survey was conducted among two thousand young people living in Spain and aged 16 to 32 years. Of these, 35% come from families with three or more siblings, while around 50% have only one sibling. The predominant family structures in their families of origin are traditional, i.e., couples formed by a man and a woman with children (74%), or families with children whose parents are separated or divorced (16%). 

Almost half of the respondents (41%) continue to live in the parental home, while 25.2% live with their partner (without children), 12% with their children (alone or with a partner), 11% alone and 8% sharing a home with other people outside the family nucleus. The main reasons for continuing to live in the parental home are related to a lack of economic resources for leaving home (52%), continuing to study (21%), or preferring living in the parental home to becoming independent (13%). 

Concern about the future is high among the young population. By sex, men express greater uncertainty than women about becoming independent and forming their own household. However, as age increases, young people are less afraid to become independent of the family context of origin and start their own family.

The family continues to be, for the participants in the study, the main agent of socialisation. Nine out of ten young people consider that the family that has raised them is particularly important in their lives, and eight out of ten, that it has been or will be a reference when it comes to forming their own household.

Although the differences by sex are not notable, women are slightly more in agreement than men with the idea that family of origin is important. Women are also the ones most comfortable with the idea of taking their family of origin as a reference when forming their own household.

Two out of three of the young people surveyed (67%) state that they have a stable partner which means, within the context of this study, a relationship lasting longer than six months. However, only 10% of those who have a partner are married. Of these, 64% wed through civil marriage, compared to 34% who wed through a religious ceremony. Young people who married said they did so to provide stability to the romantic relationship, to show commitment, or because they were thinking about having children.

Two out of three young single people want to get married; of these, 48% would prefer civil marriage, compared to 32% who would opt for religious marriage. Meanwhile, 18% state that they have not yet thought about it. Those who would like to get married are motivated to start a family, or would do so because they see it as a tradition or a religious matter. Those who do not wish to marry express either rejection of marriage, feeling sufficiently comfortable with their current situation, or not considering marriage an important issue for them.

The average agreement with the consideration of marriage as a goal for any couple is around 5 points out of 10, with men showing greater agreement with this statement than women.  

The young people participating in the study say they are very clear about what they want the family they are going to form – or are already forming – to be like. More than half envision themselves in a marriage-based family structure, with or without children. Only 5% opt for other typologies, such as being single without children or a single parent with a child. The population surveyed does not conceive of other family structures not involving a couple, although one in 10 is not clear about what they would want their family to be like. 

 

Only 16% of the young population aged between 16 and 32 years have children. Of these, 63% have only one child, 28% have two, and 8%, more than two. Meanwhile, 70% of young people between 16 and 25 years of age and 71% of young people between 26 and 32 years of age who do not yet have children say they would like to be parents, with only 14% indicating that they do not want to have children.

Work-life balance continues to weigh most heavily on women, who have been affected more in their working life. Six out of ten women say they have had to renounce different aspects of their professional lives to have children, compared to three out of ten men. Although 95% of respondents with children indicate that they would renounce several aspects of their professional promotion again, only one in two say they would have more children. It is noteworthy that 9% of young mothers have lost their job or career, compared to 1% of men. 

Members of the young Spanish population state that they do not have children, or more children, mainly due to a lack of support, because they do not have sufficient economic resources, or because they consider themselves as still too young. 

To start a family, 67% of young people would not mind living in a home similar to the one they grew up in. The choice of where to live is an important question. They are clear about the aspects they would prioritise if they could choose: they would live in areas with access to basic services, in homes they own, and close to family or friends. And 70% of young people would not consider starting a family without living together.

The least relevant aspects are related to location, although the young people surveyed would prefer to live in a rural area rather than on a housing estate or in a town centre. 
 

Family relationships, sharing household chores, and the education of children are essential aspects when deciding to form a family with another person. Members of the young Spanish population affirm that they will transmit the values that their own families instilled in them. Furthermore, young people strongly agree with statements such as that both parents should share the care and education of children, or that men should take care of and deal with family obligations. 

There is also a high degree of agreement on the idea that, within the family, everyone must make their own decisions. The level of agreement drops almost nine points in response to the affirmation that there are responsibilities for household care and attention that should lie with women. However, the average is above 5 points out of 10 regarding the assertion that the mother should always be able to enjoy more time off to care than the father, and around 5 points out of 10 regarding the idea that the responsibility for care should lie with those who work fewer hours. 

As for relationships, 47% say that they would agree with their partner to be able to have sex with other people. However, the young population is faithful and would not forgive an infidelity, as most of them are in total disagreement when asked if they would have sex outside their relationship – without prior agreement – and whether they would forgive an unfaithful partner.

The degree of agreement among the young people surveyed is above 8 points out of 10 when they state that they will transmit to their children the values they learned from their family during their childhood. They openly disagree with the idea that “a slap in time saves nine”, and almost unanimously affirm that blackmail, coercion, or threats should not be allowed within a family. Similarly, almost all of them state that they would accept that their child had a different sexual orientation from theirs, and that it is necessary to talk more within the family about sex. 

Regarding care of the elderly, almost half of those surveyed (49%) say that, if their parents were to become dependent, they would take responsibility for their care by living with them. Meanwhile, 37% say that they would hire home help services, and only 6% would choose to transfer them to a care home or specialised centre.

The study on which this article is based has highlighted the importance of the family for young Spanish people. Thus, the vast majority consider their family of origin as a reference for forming their own family. 

In terms of aspects related to lifestyle or sexual orientation, young people today are much more open than previous generations. However, the data reveal that more than half of young people prefer to formalise their relationship through traditional structures or models, such as marriage, mainly civil marriage, as a prior step to forming their own family. Only a small percentage of the young people surveyed have children, which reflects the low maternity and paternity rates in this sector of the population. This is due, largely, to the lack of family reconciliation and the lack of job and economic stability when young people become independent, as the respondents themselves state. 

Moreover, young people prefer to live in areas where their friends and family also live, and in an environment surrounded by nature and offering basic services. 

It can also be concluded that, at least in the short term, the expectation of transmitting the fundamental values of the family institution of origin to children would continue, and the burden on women in family care would persist. 

Knowing what young people think, and how they want families of the future to be, aspects included in the study Perception, interest and motivation of young people in starting a family, offer a valuable indicator for approaching public policies linked to family protection and care, labour policies concerning life-work balance, and even urban planning policies. 

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