Marriage is a social institution through which a man and a woman enters into a family life for the purpose of procreation and upbringing of the children. According to Horton and Hunt, ‘Marriage is an approved social pattern whereby two or more persons establish a family.’
The functions of marriage in human life are as follows :
• Formation of the household.
• Legitimate sexual association of the male and female.
• Procreation of the offspring.
• Upbringing and rearing of the children.
• Transmission of culture from one gene-ration to another.
• It is the basis of creating household as an economic unit.
• It creates family as an educational unit for the infant.