Basic family attitudes of young people in the Saransk

The article poses the problem of studying of modern youth’s family attitudes in terms of socio-cultural transformation of Russian society. On the basis of an empirical rapid study of 430 young people in Saransk at the age of 18-25, an analysis is given of young people attitudes about the age of the family foundationand, the age of birth of the first child, the desired number of children in the future family and the qualities of the ideal husband and ideal wife. A comparative analysis of family attitudes of men and women was also carried out. The research showed, that the modern youth of the city of Saransk, basically, preserves traditional family settings: almost 100% of respondents are oriented toward the creation of a family in the future and the birth of one, two or three children; On average, the installation for a two-child family prevails (in women three times more often than men). Traditional ideas about fidelity of spouses and mutual care remain basic in family attitudes of youth. The five of the most important qualities of both the ideal husband and the ideal wife are loyalty, mind and care. In the ideas about the ideal wife’s qualities feminine qualities predominate: housekeeping, kindness, beauty, and in the representations of the ideal husband’s qualities masculine qualities predominate: strength, responsibility, diligence. However, the views of the men and women interviewed are the most similar in terms of the wife’s qualities than of the husband’s qualities.