The Family Journal, Ahead of Print.
Marriage and family formation has become a great challenge and a matter of concern in modern societies; it seems that one of the most important factors that can affect people’s decision to get married is their attitude toward marriage. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between existential thinking, meaning of life, existential loneliness, and attitude toward marriage in single youth. A cross-sectional correlational design was conducted in 377 university students (age ranged 18–22 years old) in Isfahan city, Iran. Findings of structural equation modeling showed that there was a negative and significant relationship between existential thinking and existential loneliness and a positive significant relationship between existential thinking and meaning of life. The existential loneliness had a negative effect on positive attitude toward marriage. The findings also revealed that existential thinking affects existential loneliness via influencing on meaning of life as a mediating factor. There was a negative and significant relationship between meaning of life and existential loneliness. Moreover, meaning of life had a positive significant relationship with attitude toward marriage (p < .01). Regarding, premarital interventions that emphasize on existential issues may probably increase the positive attitude of single youth toward marriage.