{"id":{"repo_id":"vt","oai_identifier":"oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/9952"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/vt/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/9952","repository":{"repo_id":"vt","name":"Virginia Tech","base_url":"https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Understanding How Young High Functioning African American Women Perceive Marriage and Their Thoughts About Remaining Single","abstract":"The number of African American women who have never married has increased significantly. This is an ethnographic study of eight Young High Functioning (YHF) African American women from the Washington, D.C. and New York City metropolitan areas. Six of the women participated in focus groups and two were individually interviewed to understand how they perceive marriage and their thoughts about being single. YHF is defined as women who are 25-35 years old, have at least a bachelor's degree and make at least $35,000. All of the eight women had never married. The six major themes that emerged in the course of the study were: perceptions of marriage, expectations for balancing work and family, criteria for a perfect mate, dating experiences, the African American family and spirituality. While much of the literature on the decline in marriage among African Americans focuses on the sex ratio of males to females, these YHF African American women were much more concerned about the eligibility of the men in the dating pool than the ratio of males to females. They are looking for mates who share their core values of spirituality, goal oriented, family oriented and they are looking for supportive partners.","abstract_html":"The number of African American women who have never married has increased significantly. This is an ethnographic study of eight Young High Functioning (YHF) African American women from the Washington, D.C. and New York City metropolitan areas. Six of the women participated in focus groups and two were individually interviewed to understand how they perceive marriage and their thoughts about being single. YHF is defined as women who are 25-35 years old, have at least a bachelor's degree and make at least $35,000. All of the eight women had never married. The six major themes that emerged in the course of the study were: perceptions of marriage, expectations for balancing work and family, criteria for a perfect mate, dating experiences, the African American family and spirituality. While much of the literature on the decline in marriage among African Americans focuses on the sex ratio of males to females, these YHF African American women were much more concerned about the eligibility of the men in the dating pool than the ratio of males to females. They are looking for mates who share their core values of spirituality, goal oriented, family oriented and they are looking for supportive partners.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Allen-Benton, Linda Lee"],"institution":"Virginia Tech","degree_name":"Master of Science","degree_level":"masters","degree_discipline":"Human Development","degree_department":"Human Development","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":["Rosen, Karen H."],"committee_members":["Stith, Sandra M.","McCollum, Eric E."],"year":2004,"date_issued":"2004-05-07","date_published":"2004-05-07","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:20:40Z","subjects":["mate selection","dating experiences","the black church","marriage","Women","Families, Black","African Americans","spirituality"],"languages":[],"rights":["In Copyright"],"rights_urls":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["etd-05202004-134823"],"render_values":[{"text":"etd-05202004-134823","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10919/9952","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.committeechair","label":"Committee Chair","values":["Rosen, Karen H."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Stith, Sandra M.","McCollum, Eric E."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Human Development"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Allen-Benton, Linda Lee"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2011-08-06T16:01:38Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2011-08-06T16:01:38Z","2004-06-02"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2004-05-07"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Virginia Tech"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Human Development"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["mate selection","dating experiences","the black church","marriage","Women","Families, Black","African Americans","spirituality"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["In Copyright"]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["etd-05202004-134823"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/9952"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The number of African American women who have never married has increased significantly. This is an ethnographic study of eight Young High Functioning (YHF) African American women from the Washington, D.C. and New York City metropolitan areas. Six of the women participated in focus groups and two were individually interviewed to understand how they perceive marriage and their thoughts about being single. YHF is defined as women who are 25-35 years old, have at least a bachelor's degree and make at least $35,000. All of the eight women had never married. The six major themes that emerged in the course of the study were: perceptions of marriage, expectations for balancing work and family, criteria for a perfect mate, dating experiences, the African American family and spirituality. While much of the literature on the decline in marriage among African Americans focuses on the sex ratio of males to females, these YHF African American women were much more concerned about the eligibility of the men in the dating pool than the ratio of males to females. They are looking for mates who share their core values of spirituality, goal oriented, family oriented and they are looking for supportive partners."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"dc:format.medium","label":"Dc Format Medium","values":["ETD"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Understanding How Young High Functioning African American Women Perceive Marriage and Their Thoughts About Remaining Single"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.committeechair":["Rosen, Karen H."],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Stith, Sandra M.","McCollum, Eric E."],"dc:contributor.department":["Human Development"],"dc:creator":["Allen-Benton, Linda Lee"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2011-08-06T16:01:38Z"],"dc:date.available":["2011-08-06T16:01:38Z","2004-06-02"],"dc:date.issued":["2004-05-07"],"dc:description.abstract":["The number of African American women who have never married has increased significantly. 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