Comparison the Causes of Celibacy and Delay in Marriage among Male and Female Students, with Emphasis on their Attachment Styles

The current study aimed to comparison the causes of celibacy and delay in marriage among male and female students, with emphasis on their attachment styles. The research design was descriptive with correlational and also ex post facto type. During the 2016-2017 academic years, 300 single students (150 Male- 150 Female) from state and Islamic Azad Universities were selected by cluster sampling and inclusion- exclusion criteria. The research tools were Marriage Interest questionnaire (Student Edition, Persaud), Adult Attachment Scale (AAC) and a researcher-made questionnaire. The data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), and stepwise multiple regression procedures. The results showed that legal factors in in female students and cultural factors in male students are the significant factors for delayed marriage and celibacy in students. Moreover, attachment styles can determine 5.1 % variance of students’ interest in marriage. Altogether, the results of this research indicate that students with secure attachment style have more tendency to marriage. Hence, training children with secure attachment style, improving the attachment style of young people, and remove the legal and cultural barriers of youth marriage could be increase the tendency to marriage.