Investigation of the marriage decision process experienced by married couples

The marriage process, which affects life in many ways, meets many needs and shapes social life, begins with mate selection. The aim of this research is to understand how the marriage decision process develops in newly married couples who come together through someone and the factors that are effective in this process. 18 people, 9 women-9 men, were reached by purposeful sampling method. Participants were asked open-ended questions prepared by the researcher and interviews were conducted online. Thematic analysis was applied. MAXQDA 2020 was used. The findings are grouped under two main themes: Stages in the marriage decision process and factors affecting the marriage decision. The stages in the decision process are listed as the beginning, the first date, close acquaintance, and decision making. The sub-themes under the main theme of the beginning are being open to the idea of marriage, matchmakers, obtaining information, and designing the process. The sub-themes under the main theme of the first date are content, evaluation, feeling close, and should I stay should I go. The sub-themes under the main theme of close acquaintance are getting to know closely and family rituals; the sub-themes under the main theme of decision making are determined as intuitive explanations, logical explanations, consultation, and decisive moment. The factors affecting the marriage decision are listed as the person's characteristics, the characteristics of the candidate, the characteristics of the marriage type, and the family factor. Marriage age, having criteria, emotional intimacy, and not being ready for marriage are the sub-themes under the main theme of one's characteristics. Sub-themes under the main theme of the candidate's characteristics are age, personality characteristics, social characteristics, physical characteristics, similar characteristics, and complementary characteristics. The sub-themes under the main theme of the marriage type are an environment, safe, marriage-oriented, and clarity; the sub-themes under the main theme of the family factor are determined as family approval, family adjustment, and the indirect effect of the family. Keywords: marriage decision, marriage, matchmaker, mate selection, qualitative analysis, thematic analysis