The study was based on a survey analysis method (Hayes et al. 1998). The questionnaire was made using Google forms and circulated amongst the different groups for getting the responses from women of different ages and marital status. The written consent and approval was taken from the participants at the beginning of the survey study form as per relevant guidelines and regulations. The research was survey-based and does not involve experiments on humans or human tissue. The total number of responses for the study received was n = 107 after error correction, removal of ambiguity and incorrect responses. Mean age = 28 years mode = 26 years and age deviation σ = 5.476 Out of which married were n = 61 and unmarried were n = 46. The survey form questionnaire is as given in the supplemental file. The main aim of the questionnaire was to extract specific information relevant to the research focus and make analysis and find the interlinked factors that make the effect on groom choices such as type of family preferred, Expected Living preference, Factors supporting the choices, etc. The data was collected in an excel sheet for analysis using statistical methods.

In the patriarchal society of India, the Joint family could be defined as a family comprising more than three members of two or three generations descending from a man and a woman (Madan, 1962). Although these definitions are very old, in urban India, nowadays, the joint families comprise in-laws, husband-wife and their children while nuclear families have husband-wife and children, and in-laws may be living distant in different households. This cross-sectional study was designed to assess pre and post-marital family structure selection and its cost v/s reward assessment. It is observed that inclination towards the joint family setting is declining considerably. Women are opting for nuclear families by more than 59% as compared to women preferring joint families. Although initially thought and perceived rewards by women post marriage such as support from the family in different circumstances, the help of inlaws in raising kids, etc is overridden by the rewards such as independence, less interference of members of the family in the current generation. In this study, we observed that there is a paradigmatic shift in cost and reward assessment calculation as compared to the older generation. Initially presumed rewards by women for marital cohabitation such as family support, discipline, bonding are strategically shifted into the cost category from reward category. The women’s preference for tier 1 cities is growing exponentially as compared to earlier decades. 82.076% of the population in 1960 was living in villages that have been curbed down to 65.528% in 2017 (data.worldbank.org), The change in preference of women towards tier 1 cities post-marriage may add up to curbing this village population as more young men may tend to move towards cities (Singh et al. 2020). Also, women are opting for men doing jobs or business more with the least choice for farmers. This could further lead to youth less engaging in farming activities and other farming consequences. This is also affecting the current matrimonial situation in rural India as still most of the families in rural India are joint and agriculture-based. The choice for nuclear families in modern-day India can be due to economic shift, dual-income need and individual preference reasons (Luke et al. 2011). The old patriarchal behaviour, dominance of in-laws, and low liberal status, prominently results in a shift of presumed costs and rewards. (Sannen et al. 2003). In addition to this, we observed that, with the growing age of married women and children, the women’s need for child support from in-laws decreases. Also, the girl child is raised educated and made economically independent. Both factors resultantly impact an increase in inclination towards the nuclear family.