TABLE 3—

Characteristics of Modern Marriage in Southeastern Nigeria: 2004

Characteristic	Explanation
Individual choice of spouse	Most people now describe the decision about whom to marry as an individual choice, but the advice, consent, and involvement of family is still common and influential.
Romantic love as a criterion for marriage	Younger couples almost universally agree that romantic love is an important ingredient for a successful marriage, but many other concerns, including fertility, economics, religion, and a mutual commitment to family progress are viewed as equally important.
Monogamy and Christianity	Monogamy is seen as modern and Christian and is almost universally preferred by the younger generation, but notions about men’s polygamous nature and entitlement affect understandings of extramarital sexuality.
Neolocal residencea	Most couples aspire to start separate households from their parents and kin, and many do so as part of migration from rural to urban areas, but ties and obligations to extended family remain extremely powerful.
Nuclear household organization	Even among couples who remain in rural extended-family compounds, family tasks such as educating children, economic maintenance, and cooking are increasingly likely to be organized by the nuclear family.
Lower fertility preferences	Couples married less than 5 years generally aspire to having 3 to 4 children; their parents’ generation generally wanted 6 to 8.
Primacy of the conjugal relationship	The relationship between husband and wife is more important vis-à-vis other kin and social relationships, with greater emphasis on issues such as sexual pleasure, privacy, and joint decisionmaking.
Individual/couple vs. collective unit	Overall, marriage is part of a more individualized orientation to the world, where couples prioritize their own family units over the larger collective, although continuing duties to extended families often produce conflict and contradictions in marriage.

^aEstablishing marital residence independent of kin.