The article is devoted to the problem of transformation of family values, the emergence of new types of families in the context of modern marriage. The authors believe that in post-Soviet society in Russia, the axiological approach is the most heuristic in the study of marriage. The authors used a psychological analysis of the life-meaning orientations of spouses with a traditional type of marriage and spouses focused on voluntary childlessness. The results of the study showed that the specifics of life and life orientations of the husband and wife, their personal characteristics determine the attitudes and expectations of marital relations, the choice of the type of family. It was revealed that the life orientations of spouses who support voluntary childlessness are contradictory: men, when they are dissatisfied with their lives in the present and not confident in their abilities, focused on getting pleasure as the meaning of life here and now; and the wife, experiencing the riches of his life, demonstrating the confidence, commitment to the future, a higher meaning of life. Spouses from the traditional type of family are both happy with their lives. At the same time, husbands are characterized by an average level of meaningfulness of life, focus on the implementation of current tasks, and wives with a high sense of life are focused on the future, are confident in the possibility of building a life in accordance with their ideas about its meaning and life goals.