The purpose of this study is to investigate the young people`s position on the significant changes that have altered the meaning of marriage, mainly in this last decade. Consequently a field study was made using individual interviews whose theme envolved: a definition of marriage; marriage at the time of their parents and grandparents; an avaliation of the changes in marriage in modern society; effects of separation and divorce. The choice of interviewing single young people was because we consider them as representatives of a generation that may substantiate, maintain or reformulate these changes, once they are faced with the possibility of a marriage themselves. Initially, we carried out a bibliographie survey on marriage at the beginning of the 20 th century, comparing this model to the ones nowadays. The unfolding of modernization and the individual ideologies were also discussed in this process of transformations. In another moment, we focused on the figure of the single young people, pointing out the importance of listening to them and what their opinions were according to their family influences and also as regards the social aspects that might have interfered in their points of view. These interviews revealed that the position of these young people on marriage is influenced by different values, of which the main purpose is the search of happiness, independent of the way chosen, may it be more conservative or more liberal.