Coping patterns differ with the spouse's interpretation of where to place the blame for the misunderstanding. And conjugal power is a silent variable both in role deception and in coping with actual unanticipated roles.
The traditional attitude is that those who remain single are deviant or in some way inadequate for normal adult roles. But there is an emergent new style of singlehood that opposes this view. An increasing number of individuals are pursuing singlehood consciously and voluntarily. This new and perhaps prevailing attitude casts the role of the never married in a more positive posture. The authors attempt to identify the explanations of never being married. The analysis is made from an available sample of204persons over the age of3 5 who have never married. A comparison of census datafrom 1970, 1980 and 1990 shows the number of the never married are increasing.
that parents' attitude toward grandparenting tended to be negative, and parental attitudes were not necessarily consistent with parenting practices in terms of the choice of child care arrangement. In the past decade, as result of the implementation of the one-child-per couple family policy and other radical social and economic reforms, the context of Chinese parents has changed dramatically, especially in urban areas. These changes have greatly impacted parental attitudes toward child care and their parenting practices. One area of change is the array of child care arrangements available to parents with young children in urban areas. Children may attend a daytime daycare or a full time daycare center (boarding school) where the child spends the night and returns to their parents on weekends. In addition, parents can keep their children at home with either set of grandparents providing the care or the parents themselves can serve as caretakers. They can also hire a baby-sitter to take care of their child as an alternative.
This article presents the essential points from the results of a qualitative study into the meanings of unmarried cohabitation in Flanders. The background is the finding that unmarried cohabitants (in the West) are relatively remote from the traditional relationship model, and that they reflect the changes in the culture of relationships. The meanings of the mode of living and of the relationships have been investigated by means of interviews with young adults living together who had never been married (47 couples). Common meanings for the cohabitation relationship are: a preference for self-determination, the open future of the relationship, the central position taken by togetherness. These link up closely with the most important motives for unmarried cohabitation. Being together is after all the most important motivation for living together the most important motivation for living together; the most important motives for not marrying are leaving the future of the relationship open and the lack ofa reason for marrying. So unmarried cohabitation emerges from this study as an open framework for togetherness. The broader relevance of this small-scale study lies in the formulation of hypotheses regarding unmarried cohabitation and the growing relationship culture
Using data from both primary and secondary sources, this paper discusses the ways in which family roles are being renegotiated as a result of women's labor force participation to include children in the household division of labor. I start by arguing that the sociological anthropological explanation of the construction of the family in terms of instrumental-expressive dimension is only a partial account. There is now considerable evidence to suggest that the roles of husbands and wives are changing as a result of economic restructuring. Similarly children's role in the family is becoming increasingly significant, especially because of mother's labor force participation as well as due to the changed perceptions of childhood. After highlighting children's contribution in household work, I describe the process by which housechild role is socially constructed in the family. I conclude by arguing, that since the roles of women and children have significantly changed, the notion of two-job family may be reconstructed as The Adapting Family to give a full account of the ways in which it operates
The national Survey of Families and Households is used to examine the determinants of father's participation in child care in United States. Fathers loho are the primary caregivers of their children while mothers work in paid labor are compared to fathers who are not the primary caregivers of their children. Findings show that fathers with less education, lower incomes, and more traditional attitudes toward child care are more likely to care for children. In addition, fathers are more likely to care for children if the parents work different shifts, and if mothers work part-time. Implications of these findings are also discussed.
The present study was conducted on a randomized sample of hundred married and hundred unmarried Hindu working women from Dharwad city. A pretested questionnaire schedule and a self-developed attitude scale whose test retest reliability was 0.77 (correlation coefficient value) were the tools of data collection. Correlation and 'Z' tests were used for analysis of the data. This study aimed at finding out differences, if only, in the attitude of married and unmarried Hindu working women toward dowry. It examined the differential effect of a set of socioeconomic and personal variables on the attitude of respondents. Contrary to the expectation majority of married group of respondents were found to have significantly more favourable attitude than married respondents. In addition as the educational level increased the attitude of both married and unmarried women became increasingly favorable toward dowry, the correlation beinghighly significant in case of unmarried. Moreover as the income of their parents increased the attitude of both married and unmarried women became increasingly favorable. However, income of the respondents was found to be negatively correlated with the attitude of married women and positively correlated with that of unmarried respondents. Likewise as the age increased the unmarrieifwere found to have increasingly favorable attitude, whereas that of married respondents became increasingly lessfavorable. B ut among both married and unmarried working women, the number of their sisters was found to be negatively correlated with their attitude. In case of married respondents there was no difference between the attitude of those in whose marriage dowry was given and those in whose marriage it was not given. These results disprove the myth that increased education, income and employment of women can turn these women against dowry system at least in their attitude. These findings imply the need to search for social and psychological factors operative in the working women's family and socio cultural milieu which are defeating all efforts to eradicate dowry and to mobilize working women's attitude against it.
Family life is a major determinants of one's quality of life. It has been emphasized that family life quality is a support for greater work motivation, commitment and overall work performance. However, this subset of the quality of life appears neglected in the literature of work psychology. The paper presents the concepts and development of a measuring tool on Quality of Family Life. Most of the similar scales measure quality of life or family environment but this scale focuses on three dimensional factor analyzed scale of quality of family life. The scale has been tested on 455 Indian working women. The reliability and validity of the scale has been reported. Family life is a major factor affecting the performance of individuals in paid work situations. Voydanoff (1980), emphasized that the issue of family life in work setting is often overlooked though it has important implications on the morale, stability and productivity of the work force. Crouter and Garbarino (1982), in their findings suggested that family life and support, affect the work performance, commitment and satisfaction. Work and family life can not be separated because they influence each other. The research findings also demonstrate that the family has an impact upon the world of work. Crouter (1984), argued that spill-over from family to work which can be both negative and positive has a tremendous influence on the work place. The family support has a positive influence on work. Ladewig & Whyte (1956), focused on the auxiliary functions provided for the worker which included entertaining colleagues and clients, maintaining community relations, doing secretarial work and providing psychological nurturing. Kanter (1977) recognizes that the male employees productivity level is possible only because of the support services provided by his wife. For most working women husband's approval and support are important to the women's career. Rapaport & Rapaport (1971) ; Farmer & Bohn (1970) ;
importance to the countries in which they are related, as well as the international arena. Reissman's assertion (1964) that the study of the city perforce has become the study of contemporary society applies generally to Africa. The centers of decision and the triggers for social change are located in cities, and it is urban not rural societies that control the world's destiny. The process of urbanization poses a multitude of problems. These are, firstly the cause and character of migration to the town, secondly, the cause and character of an effective administrative and infrastructures for regulating immigrant life in a town of mixed population, and thirdly, that of the adaptation of immigrant social institutions to the new environment.
of Trinidad and Tobago, there has been little research on psychological issues with respect to therapeutic interventions. To gain more than a superficial knowledge and to extricate cultural factors that might be pertinent in understanding Trinidadians and Tobagonians, I felt that clinical interviews, though necessary, would be an insufficient means of attaining a holistic grasp of the T rinidadian and T obagonian cultural values and beliefs. Therefore, several Caribbean questionnaires were handed out to many Caribbean people from 13 of the CARICOM countries, Trinidad and Tobago being one of them. Thus, this article is the outcome of five years of research based on my own practical, clinical and supervisory experiences on people from the English speaking-Caribbean. A total of873 families of Caribbean heritage who reside in the Caribbean, in New York, in Toronto and in London were either interviewed or seen in treatment. The interviews, each lasted about one hour, focused on such areas as family, education, work values, race, disciplinary measures used, problems with the effectiveness of psychotherapeutic interventions and inter-island differences. These questionnaires (though not standardized) (Gopaul-McNicol, 1993) provided some rudimentary guidelines for understanding Caribbean'families. Many participants, after responding to the questions or to treatment, examined the thoughts and feelings
I present a case for use of relational units in gender analysis. Central feminist arguments about the inappropriateness of the biological reductionism, biologizing, of human behavior are used to critique the use of biological units in the form of individuals in case level analysis. I propose the alternate of unitizing gender as a relationship rather than an individual property on the case level. This analysis is informed by an' examination of the process of identification of mental illness symptoms in intimate contexts, using senile dementia as a case in point. It points out the potential for reform of gender analysis of relationships of same sex, more than two persons, and race.
This paper explores conflict in Chinese marriages and how it is resolved. Interviews were conducted with 20 couples living on a university campus in Southern China. Four main themes emerged in the analysis. These themes were derived from couples' constructed narratives about the dynamics of conflict within their marriage. Couples tended to typify their marriage as either Traditional, Democratic, Modernized or Westernized. A preliminary typology is suggested and specifics related to these classifications are discussed. The results of this study are intended to contribute to a growing interest by Western and Chinese scholars in conflict in Chinese marriages. Findings also can help professionals in the U.S and other Western countries to better understand and work with couples from Chinese cultures.
This paper is the result of research which was undertaken to determine the effects parental loss as a child has in relation to their well-being as adults. More specifically, it focuses on the way the surviving parent of guardian assists the bereaved child in his or her grief and how this affects the child's emotional stability as an adult. A sample of five females, who had lost a parent prior to the age of thirteen, were interviewed and, in addition, completed a questionnaire on overall well-being. Evidence is found which supports the idea that the loss of a parent in childhood is an especially significant loss for a child in that when a child loses one parent, the child loses the other parent too. Reasons were that the surviving parent gets lost in his or her own grief and may be psychologically unavailable to the child. Therefore, results revealed that the more psychologically available the surviving parent was, the better the child was able to express her grief and consequently had higher well-being as an adult
The last few years have witnessed an alarming increase in crimes against women. Married women have been beaten, tortured and have died in circumstances which is enough to shock the sensibility of the general public. These deaths have come to be associated with dowry and the victim is often a young and recently married woman. The malady is deep-rooted and has its origin in several social, economic and psychological factors. The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 provides no real measures for redressal if a woman finds herself being held at ransom. Indian woman is said to be dependent throughout her life. During childhood she should depend on her father, after marriage on her husband and on her sons during old age. Woman has no right to select her husband. No joint ownership W property. And daughters were considered as 'Second class citizens', where freedom of women was curtailed. They were regarded to be subservient and subordinate to man a completely inferior species, inferior to male, having no significance.
emphasis on father-child interaction. The preponderance of lower class studies precluded such an emphasis since paternal relationships with children in poor families are consistently considered marginal. Using cross-sectional survey data from urlxin Guyana, this study examines the relationship of structural economic conditions to pater nal involvement with children. Additionally, the study assesses the impact of personality, demographic, household and role structure on father-child relationships. Employing incremental model fitting strate gies in LISREL, the results indicate that the significant impact of structural economic conditions on paternal involvement ivith chil dren is not mediated by the psychological factors used even though the latter had significant direct effects. It was also found, that together economic and psychological factors did not constitute an adequate explanatory model. The inclusion of demographic and structural household conditions resulted in a significant improvement of the model. The implications of these findings within the Caribbean con text and the general literature on paternal relationships with children are discussed
Somalia like many former colonial African countries has come to realize the vast potential of women in relation to socio-economic development and improved status of the family. This paper puts into research focus rural women of Somalia who have been largely ommitted in the field of social science studies. Taking an interdisciplinary approach to a survey conducted under the auspices of UNESCO in 1986 of859 women in the Lower Juba Region, Southern Somalia, the paper reports and analyses the practices of women in 16 semi pastoralist and semi agricultural villages- and shows the gradual process of transformation of rural life through the creation of the Family Life Center and its outreach programming.
Immigrants perceptions of family life in a new cultural environment and the comparison between life before and after immigration are important components of their adjustment. The present paper compares ex-Soviet immigrants' perception of: (a) the Soviet Jewish family; (b) the veteran Israeli family; (c) their own family life before emigration; and (d) their own family life after immigration. It is based on data collected from 210 ex-Soviet immigrant couples who arrived in Israel between 1990 and 1993. The purpose of our study was to compare different parameters of new immigrants' opinions about family life in different cultures (Israel and the former Soviet Union) and to evaluate several hypotheses related to the possible impacts of some important factors on perceptions of family life in a new environment. In-group favoritism and self-enhancement are expressed in immigrants' perceptions of the veteran Israeli family. In the main, immigrants' perceptions of family life in the host culture are a projection of their own family life and that of the in-group. This reflection may vary according to the degree of adjustment in the new environment, the level of stress and ethnic self-identification. In other words, perceptions of family life in the host culture are determined more by personal factors and personal stereotypes than by group stereotypes
The current study looks at the concept of healthy family functioning in China and Taixuan within the context of Circumplex theory. Common family strcngthing characteristics selected by survey par ticipants were used to determine the importance of communication, cohesion, and adaptation for 268 married adults in Taiwan and 305 married adults in China. The two Chinese samples generally agreed as to the most important characteristics of healthy families in their cultures. While communication and adaptation were important for both groups, emphasis on cohesion was much greater.
The aim of this research ivas to assess the impact of wife-beating and marital satisfaction on the marital relationship with respect to a coloured population. The study assessed the impact of wife-beating and marital satisfaction on the following dimensions of the marital relation ship: communication, sexual satisfaction, disharmony, feelings toward the spouse, commitment to the relationship and the dissolution potential of the relationship. Standardised self-report questionnaires measuring the above dimensions of the marital relationship were administered to three groups of women. These three groups of women comprised a group of 15 satisfactorily married non-abused women, a group of 20 unsatis factorily married non-abused women and a group of 20 unsatisfactorily married abused women. Women ivere selected and assigned to one of the three groups on the basis of scores obtained on the Short Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Scale (Locke & Wallace, 1959) and the Conflict Tactics Scale (Straus, 1979). The inclusion of the group of unsatisfac torily married, non-abused women was crucial and partially controlled for the effects of marital discord. The data from the above cited dimen sions of the marital relationships were statistically analysed using a multivariate statistic MANOVA, followed by, where appropriate, par
Aging of populations in low to middle income countries is taking place at an unprecedented speed but under economic, political, and institutional conditions that are in stark contrast with those associated with aging processes in high income countries. This is the case in countries of the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region where rapid changes of the fertility and mortality regimes, weakening of familial norms and values, and radical reforms of publicly funded safety nets, is rapidly eroding the foundation of traditional support for the elderly. In this highly descriptive paper we identify conditions affecting the demand and supply of elderly support in LAC and, for the first time, estimate existing patterns of elderly support in seven countries of LAC using a new and as yet unexplored source of information. The first section introduces basic concepts and terminology. The second section describes unique features of LAC countries that exert large a influence on patterns of intergenerational transfers by constraining the supply of elderly support and expanding the demand for it. In the third section we analyze data on intra-family transfers using a set of surveys of elderly adult living in seven large cities in LAC countries. We focus on two dimensions of elderly support: the availability of actors to provide support and the propensity of these actors to supply support. We show evidence of distinct patterns of family support, the result of different combinations of kin-availability and kin propensities to support. The final section concludes.
