Two thirds of Maltese would not consider remarriage if divorce legislation is introduced in Malta, according to a survey released today.
The study, drawn up by the University of Malta’s Centre for Family Studies, also found that those with tertiary education were more inclined to remarry.
Carried out in collaboration with the National Statistics Office, the study probed the attitudes of married or previously married people towards remarriage, if divorce legislation is enacted in Malta.
More than 70 per cent of the 2,840 contacted took part in the surveycarried out in March.
Over 67 per cent said they would not consider remarriage if divorce legislation existed, whereas 18per cent would have another go. The remaining 14.5 per cent wereundecided.
Married respondents are less likely to consider remarriage if divorce legislation is introduced. Married or previously married respondents are more likely to consider remarriage if they do not have children. The younger respondents were more inclined to consider remarriage, with nearly a third of respondents aged 40 or under answering positively. The rate dropped to 7.3 per cent among the over 60s. Parents were less likely to consider remarriage than non-parents (16.6 per cent and 38 per cent respectively). Of parents, 58 per cent who have children from their current relationship outside marriage, and potentially from other relationships, would consider remarrying.
Education was seen as being highly related to the consideration of remarriage. Over a third of previously married respondents with a high level of education would consider remarriage while just nine per cent of married couples with a low level of education would consider remarriage.
Those who have primary education are less likely to have answered positively towards the idea of remarrying compared with those with a tertiary level of education (15.6 per cent and 25.5 per cent respectively).
Respondents in paid employment are more prepared to consider the possibility of remarriage if divorce legislation is available than the unemployed. Professionals, managers and senior officials (34.4 per cent) are more likely to consider remarriage than respondents in other occupations (22.3 per cent).
The three most common reasons given for remarriage are love (38 per cent), to live in the company of someone (24per cent), and the belief that it is a right (24 per cent).
The three most common reasons for not considering remarriage are religious/social beliefs/values (20 per cent), not to go through past bad experiences (19.6 per cent), and old age/health (19 per cent).
Only 3.4 per cent of parents whose children were born withinmarriage would consider remarriage for the sake of the children, compared with 29 per cent of parents of children born outside marriage.
Among previously married respondents, men are more likely than women to consider remarriage. About a third of previously married males answered the question positively compared with less than a quarter of females.