834 Journal of Marriage and Family course,whereby both standardization and vari- out the essence of the phenomenon of interest. ability are encouraged (Shanahan,2000).Re- variability of experiences exists,and in analyzing searchers have devoted considerably more and presenting findings,we draw attention to nu- attention to macrolevel trends than microlevel de- ances among the women's descriptions. scriptions of women's family formation patterns (e.g.,Elder,1998;Smock,2004).Consequently, scholars have called for studies to explore women's Sampling subjective lives,particularly studies examining Purposeful sampling was used to recruit partici- how women experience normative assumptions pants (Porter,1998).Because the goal of descrip- of marriage and motherhood in light of recent tive phenomenology is to describe the common social-historical trends (Allen,1989;Tucker, features of participants'experiences,participants 2000). must share a restricted range of demographic Prior research investigating women's subjec- characteristics (Porter).For that reason.we tive experiences about missing the marital transi- applied inclusion criteria guided by prior re- tion have focused on older women who have search.The sample was restricted to childless het- come to grips with the issue (e.g.,Allen,1989; erosexual White women aged 28-34 years,who Davies,2003;Ferguson,2000;O'Brien,1991), held a bachelor's degree and who were not cur- the timing of childbearing (e.g.,Bock,2000; rently cohabiting with a romantic partner.Child- Siegel,1995),or other aspects of women's expe- less women were selected because a growing riences (e.g.,Aronson,1999;Chasteen,1994). number of white,middle-class,never-married The focus of the present investigation is the lived women aged 28-34 years are childless (U.S. experiences of White,college-educated women Census Bureau,Statistical Abstract of the United who are just past the normative age for marriage, States,2005)and because the experiences of who so far have missed the transition to marriage. unmarried mothers were likely to differ from Such women,arguably,are in an economic posi- those of childless unmarried women.Heterosex- tion not to need marriage and are living during ual women were selected because marriage is not a critical historical juncture whereby the central- legally available to lesbians in most states and ity of marriage is being questioned and an indi- their life course expectations would be different vidualized life course is more acceptable.Given from those of heterosexual women in regard to the growing number of women delaying mar- missing the transition to marriage.The age range riage,the potential intrapersonal effects of miss- was chosen because 28 years has been considered ing the marital transition,and the limited by some developmental scholars to be the transi- scholarly attention to women's subjective experi- tion point into early adulthood (Levinson,1996) ences,understanding the lives of young,never- and is 2.5 years older than the median age of mar- married women is a topic of critical importance. riage in 2004 (U.S.Census Bureau,Statistical In addition,we employ a well-defined qualitative Abstract of the United States),and 34 years was method,descriptive phenomenology,which selected as the upper age limit because the likeli- rarely has been utilized in family scholarship. hood to marry decreases considerably after that We argue that descriptive phenomenology al- age (U.S.Census Bureau,Statistical Abstract of lowed us to capture a more complex understand- the United States).We held education constant ing of the experience than previous researchers because women's experiences vary depending have illuminated. on the level of education attained (Thornton. Axinn,Teachman,1995).Finally,the sample METHOD was restricted to Whites because previous work has established that life course expectations and The method used was based on Porter's(1998) experiences vary between racial and ethnic groups application of Husserl's(1962/1913)approach (East.1998:Tucker Mitchell-Kernan.1998). to descriptive phenomenology.Consistent with Participants were recruited through e-mail list- Porter's (1998)method,interviews focused on serves,newspaper and radio advertisements,and each participant's experiences,their intentional- fliers placed on public bulletin boards in restau- ity (i.e.,What is the respondent trying to do with rants,coffee shops,schools,and hospitals in this experience?),and the context of the experi- a midsized Midwestern town.The recruitment ence (Schutz Luckmann,1973).Although message read,"Volunteers are needed to partici- a goal of descriptive phenomenology is to draw pate in dissertation research about the issues ofcourse, whereby both standardization and vari￾ability are encouraged (Shanahan, 2000). Re￾searchers have devoted considerably more attention to macrolevel trends than microlevel de￾scriptions of women’s family formation patterns (e.g., Elder, 1998; Smock, 2004). Consequently, scholars have called for studies to explore women’s subjective lives, particularly studies examining how women experience normative assumptions of marriage and motherhood in light of recent social-historical trends (Allen, 1989; Tucker, 2000). Prior research investigating women’s subjec￾tive experiences about missing the marital transi￾tion have focused on older women who have come to grips with the issue (e.g., Allen, 1989; Davies, 2003; Ferguson, 2000; O’Brien, 1991), the timing of childbearing (e.g., Bock, 2000; Siegel, 1995), or other aspects of women’s expe￾riences (e.g., Aronson, 1999; Chasteen, 1994). The focus of the present investigation is the lived experiences of White, college-educated women who are just past the normative age for marriage, who so far have missed the transition to marriage. Such women, arguably, are in an economic posi￾tion not to need marriage and are living during a critical historical juncture whereby the central￾ity of marriage is being questioned and an indi￾vidualized life course is more acceptable. Given the growing number of women delaying mar￾riage, the potential intrapersonal effects of miss￾ing the marital transition, and the limited scholarly attention to women’s subjective experi￾ences, understanding the lives of young, never￾married women is a topic of critical importance. In addition, we employ a well-defined qualitative method, descriptive phenomenology, which rarely has been utilized in family scholarship. We argue that descriptive phenomenology al￾lowed us to capture a more complex understand￾ing of the experience than previous researchers have illuminated. METHOD The method used was based on Porter’s (1998) application of Husserl’s (1962/1913) approach to descriptive phenomenology. Consistent with Porter’s (1998) method, interviews focused on each participant’s experiences, their intentional￾ity (i.e., What is the respondent trying to do with this experience?), and the context of the experi￾ence (Schutz & Luckmann, 1973). Although a goal of descriptive phenomenology is to draw out the essence of the phenomenon of interest, variability of experiences exists, and in analyzing and presenting findings, we draw attention to nu￾ances among the women’s descriptions. Sampling Purposeful sampling was used to recruit partici￾pants (Porter, 1998). Because the goal of descrip￾tive phenomenology is to describe the common features of participants’ experiences, participants must share a restricted range of demographic characteristics (Porter). For that reason, we applied inclusion criteria guided by prior re￾search. The sample was restricted to childless het￾erosexual White women aged 28 – 34 years, who held a bachelor’s degree and who were not cur￾rently cohabiting with a romantic partner. Child￾less women were selected because a growing number of white, middle-class, never-married women aged 28 – 34 years are childless (U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2005) and because the experiences of unmarried mothers were likely to differ from those of childless unmarried women. Heterosex￾ual women were selected because marriage is not legally available to lesbians in most states and their life course expectations would be different from those of heterosexual women in regard to missing the transition to marriage. The age range was chosen because 28 years has been considered by some developmental scholars to be the transi￾tion point into early adulthood (Levinson, 1996) and is 2.5 years older than the median age of mar￾riage in 2004 (U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States), and 34 years was selected as the upper age limit because the likeli￾hood to marry decreases considerably after that age (U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States). We held education constant because women’s experiences vary depending on the level of education attained (Thornton, Axinn, & Teachman, 1995). Finally, the sample was restricted to Whites because previous work has established that life course expectations and experiences vary between racial and ethnic groups (East, 1998; Tucker & Mitchell-Kernan, 1998). Participants were recruited through e-mail list￾serves, newspaper and radio advertisements, and fliers placed on public bulletin boards in restau￾rants, coffee shops, schools, and hospitals in a midsized Midwestern town. The recruitment message read, ‘‘Volunteers are needed to partici￾pate in dissertation research about the issues of 834 Journal of Marriage and Family