The online survey “What matters for a successful marriage?” (November 2016, N=127) shows that respondents primarily see a successful marriage as a relationship built on trust and communication, and only secondarily on material conditions and partner “similarities.”
The strongest consensus is around willingness to talk through problems: as many as 74.80% say this is “completely important,” and an additional 19.69% say “mostly important.” Right behind that is fidelity: 69.29% rate it as completely important, and 25.20% as mostly important. In other words, for most people marriage is not an “institution,” but a daily skill of resolving conflict and maintaining trust.
Good sexual relations also rank highly: 53.54% consider them completely important, and 36.22% mostly important. Interestingly, this “intimate” dimension is strongly linked with the need for autonomy: living separately from parents is seen as completely important by 43.31% (with 35.43% mostly), and having time for friends and personal activities by 40.94% (with 40.16% mostly). The message is clear: marriage is imagined as a partnership that needs privacy and space—both from the family of origin and within each partner’s personal interests.
Material factors matter, but without “absolutes.” Adequate income is completely important for 14.96%, while 43.31% say it is mostly important, but a third (31.50%) remain neutral. Housing conditions show a similar pattern (12.60% completely important; 40.94% mostly), suggesting that money and housing are stabilizers, but not the key “guarantee” of marriage.
By contrast, “identity alignment” is valued weakly. Agreement in politics is considered completely unimportant by 41.73%, and mostly unimportant by another 22.05%. The same religious belief is seen as completely important by 16.54%, while 25.20% consider it completely unimportant. “Same social background” is also most often rejected (27.56% completely unimportant). In practice, respondents seem to be saying: how we live together matters more than what group we belong to.
The sample structure shows that 40.94% live in a marriage with children, 22.83% are unmarried, and women make up 60.63% of respondents. The dominant age is the mid-thirties (median 36; mean 37.56), which may help explain the emphasis on autonomy and “functional” partnership.
Methodological note: this was an online survey (N=127) and the findings are indicative, not generalizable to Serbia’s population.