Asian have modern views on marriage: Survey

SINGAPORE (JP): The latest Asian Ideals survey, conducted by MasterCard International, revealed that Asians have modern attitudes towards money matters in marriages.

Regionally, 50 percent were in favor of a joint bank account for married couples, 38 percent were not in favorite and 11 percent were undecided.

Support for a joint account was highest in Australia (73 percent), India (72 percent), the Philippines (70 percent), Singapore (63 percent) and New Zealand (62 percent) and poorest in Thailand (39 percent), Taiwan (31 percent), Indonesia (30 percent) and Japan (11 percent).

Conducted in December 1997, the latest Asian Ideals survey sought Asian views on marriage, family and relationships. The survey was conducted in 13 countries: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.

Except for Indonesia and Korea where interestingly, the wife was favored to manage the money in the family, consumers in all other countries believed that the money in the family should be managed by both husband and wife. Across the region, 55 percent of consumers were agreeable to the idea of joint management of finances, 27 percent believed it was the wife's task and only 13 percent believed this was a husband's responsibility. Support for the husband over the wife was evident only in Malaysia (22 percent for husband vs 10 percent for wife) and India (22 percent for husband vs 16 percent for wife).

When asked to choose between money or happiness, the overwhelming choice across Asia was happiness (55 percent), followed by money and happiness equally (38 percent). Less than 10 percent in each country, except Japan, considered money more important. The Japanese were the only consumers to put money (21 percent) ahead of happiness (13 percent), a release of the survey reached The Jakarta Post said.

"Having it all is important, but today's young Asians are keenly aware that a healthy bank account won't automatically guarantee happiness. By choosing happiness over material wealth, Asians are showing that the more traditional values are still alive," said Jonathon Gould, MasterCard International senior vice president, Marketing, Asia/Pacific.

For almost all consumers, problems over money only occurred sometimes (27 percent), rarely (30 percent) or almost never/never (33 percent). Only the Japanese tended to argue fairly often (33 percent) or even very often (18 percent) with their spouse over money.

Traditionally in Asia, husbands worked while their wives stayed home. Ties have changed. An overwhelming 73 percent believed both partners should work after marriage. a small percentage, only 14 percent, were not in favor of the idea. Consumers in Hong Kong (92 percent), China (91 percent) Thailand (90 percent) and the Philippines (90 percent) favored both partners working. Those from Malaysia (78 percent), Singapore (76 percent), Japan (70 percent), India (69 percent), and Australia were likewise inclined to double income households, but to a lesser degree. Resistance to double-income households was most evident among consumers in Korea (31 percent), Indonesia (31 percent), India (24 percent), Japan (21 percent).

Marriage

Asian consumers believe marriage can wait, according to the survey. The ideal age for marriage was seen as 27 and 28 among consumers from China, Japan, Australia, Philippines, Taiwan, Indonesia and Korea. Those from India, Malaysia, Singapore and New Zealand preferred a slightly younger marrying age of 25 and 26, while their counterparts in Thailand and Hong Kong viewed 29 and 30 as ideal.

In eight out of the 13 countries surveyed, consumers' ideal marriage age corresponded with their ideal age to have children. However, in the rest of the countries, the ideal age was one year later suggesting that consumers preferred to have children almost immediately after marriage. Only Singaporeans (38 percent) believed it was best to have children after having been married for a few years.

Another sign that today's Asians have become more modern and career-oriented: half of those surveyed (51 percent) announced they would be happy to remain single. Thai (93 percent) and Indonesian (80 percent) singles were much more inclined to want to remain single. The Taiwanese (65 percent) and Hong Kongers (60 percent) were similarly inclined, albeit to a lesser degree. Filipino (32%), Japanese (30%), Indian (28%), and Malaysian (22%) singles were less inclined to prefer to stay single.

Gould said: "Asians today are still family-oriented but the Asian Ideals survey shows than young Asians have become independent and their careers are taking on more importance."

"For today's modern Asians, getting married after attending university is just one of several options, not a foregone conclusion."

Asians have become increasingly more comfortable about selecting a partner of a different nationality. Across the region, approximately half of Asian consumers would marry someone of a different nationality. Consumers from Hong Kong (88 percent), Australia (87 percent), New Zealand (78 percent), Thailand (69 percent) again were most open-minded on this issue, while those from India (29 percent), Malaysia (21 percent), Japan (20 percent) and Korea (12 percent) held slightly more traditional beliefs.

"We live in a global village and interaction among different nationalities and races is not only common today, but expected. This frequent interaction has resulted in more inter-racial marriages in Asia than ever before. The survey confirms that Asians have learned to accept and in some cases, even embrace, different cultures," added Gould.

The survey revealed that Asians today have become more open- minded about marrying other races. The trend was particularly evident among Australians (78 percent), Thais (76 percent), Indonesians (71 percent), Hong Kongers (70 percent), Kiwis (69 percent) and Filipinos (59 percent). While open to marrying a partner of a different race, the Taiwanese (52 percent), Malaysians (52 percent), Koreans (50 percent), Singaporeans (48 percent) and Indians (45 percent) seemed more conservative on this issue.

As for marrying a partner from a different religion, consumers from Hong Kong (80 percent) and Australia (72 percent) were most agreeable to the idea, followed by Thailand (62 percent) and New Zealand (61 percent). Indians (33 percent), Malaysians (16 percent), Koreans (14 percent) and Indonesians (10 percent) indicated more reluctance.

The old notion of Asians wanting many children apparently no longer holds true. The survey revealed that 70 percent of consumers considered two children or less as ideal, and less than 10 percent of those surveyed wanted to have more than three children.

In today's modern households where both partners are employed, responsibility for the caring of children was perceived to be primarily the grandparents' role. Over all, 42 percent of those surveyed believed grandparents are in the best position to take care of children when both partners are at work. 18 percent preferred day care center/service, 14 percent suggested a relative and only 10 percent preferred a babysitter or maid. Day care centers seemed to be extremely popular among the Japanese (62 percent) while "relative" represented a dominant force in the Philippines (41 percent), Indonesia (28 percent), and surprisingly, New Zealand (25 percent). After grandparents, "babysitters" were the favorite option for those in Taiwan (27 percent) and Malaysia (23 percent).