Family, Life Course, and Society Commons^™

When To Marry, If At All?A Qualitative Exploration Of How Sexual Minority Young Adults In The Us Think About Marital Timing, Aaron Hoy, Sachita Pokhrel

The Qualitative Report

According to prior research, the average age at first marriage has steadily increased in the US due in large part to the significance that young adults place on marriage and their evolving conceptions of marital readiness. However, despite the nationwide legalization of same-sex marriage in 2015, there is a significant oversight of sexual minorities in this research. To address this, we draw upon qualitative data collected through an online survey to explore how our sample of unmarried sexual minority young adults (N=256) think about marital timing. The results of our thematic analysis show that those in our sample …

Securely Ever After: Attachment,Trust, And Commitment In Married Adult Adoptees, Jill P. Burgon

Theses and Dissertations

Past research suggests that adoptees face a higher risk of insecure attachment and encounter more challenges related to trust and commitment in their romantic relationships compared to nonadopted individuals. This study examines the association between adoption status and marital security among newly married couples, with a focus on the potential moderating role of gender. Using data from a representative sample of newly married couples in the United States (n = 2,110), the relationship between adoption status and multiple measures of marital security were measured using OLS regression. Findings indicate that, during the early stages of marriage, adult adoptees exhibited comparable …

Understanding Gendered Hierarchy In Highly Religious Couples, Jolyn C. Schraedel

Theses and Dissertations

Although religious beliefs often associate with gendered hierarchy in sociological studies, very few studies have examined religion and gendered hierarchy within intimate relationships. This study used an exemplary sample to explore how religious, heterosexual married couples view and possibly practice gendered hierarchy. Interviews from 77 highly religious, highly satisfied couples provided insight into the following themes: (1) the potential harm of hierarchy, (2) misunderstanding hierarchy, (3) rejection of hierarchy, and (4) acceptance of hierarchy. For couples who expressed acceptance of hierarchy, further exploration revealed subthemes explaining how they conceptualized this practice. Subthemes included (4a) mutual submission, (4b) joint discussion, and …

Socioeconomic Status And Physical Attractiveness In Partner Selection 32 Years Later: An Empirical Replication And Extension Of Townsend And Levy (1990), Elena Kelsey Henderson

Theses and Dissertations

Partnership is a universal part of human existence. Human partner selection has been long studied within evolutionary and sociocultural frameworks. One study by Townsend and Levy (1990) found that physical attractiveness and socioeconomic status influence male and female partner selection in distinct ways. The present study replicated and extended the work of Townsend and Levy, investigating how physical attractiveness, socioeconomic status, and race and ethnicity influence relationship willingness at various levels of involvement. A repeated measures ANOVA was conducted, and planned post hoc pairwise comparisons and parameter estimates were analyzed. We analyzed responses from 503 single American adults of four …

Sociology Of The Family Textbook, Amy E. Traver

Open Educational Resources

This OER textbook provides students with a brief introduction to: the perspective, methods, and theories that constitute the sociology of the family; research on patterns and processes of dating/mating, cohabitation/marriage, parenting. divorce/remarriage, and family stressors/strengths in the United States. It was created through the integration of various OER texts, including OpenStax, Sociology Wikibooks, and many more. It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 license.

Impact Of Family Expectations On The Marital Practices Of Haitian-American Couples, Kencia Mele

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This paper analyzes how family expectations from the Haitian culture manifest in the marriages of middle-aged Haitian-American couples. This study emphasizes that the evolution to biculturalism is a major factor in the adjustments of cultural expectations. Four middle-aged Haitian-American couples were interviewed via Zoom individually. They were asked to describe how they believed Haitian culture and family expectations influenced their family and marriage life. The results indicate that the middle-aged Haitian-American couples adhere to explicit and implicit family expectations set out by their families of origin; these expectations were influenced by Haitian culture. The major themes from the study were: …

The Happiest Place On Earth: A Grounded Theory Of Fulfillment In Mixed-Orientation Marriages, Isadora Ferreira De Melo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mixed-orientation marriages (MOMs) are often misunderstood. There is a general cynicism in research literature and in the broader culture regarding the relational viability of same-sex attracted (SSA) individuals who marry someone of the opposite sex. However, there exist couples in MOMs that are resilient and attain satisfaction. The purpose of this study is to better understand how MOMs might become successful. By interviewing maritally satisfied mixed-orientation couples, the Model of Relational Self- Determination in Mixed-Orientation Marriages was developed. This model is separated into five stages that are organized around the experience of disclosure of the SSA spouse’s sexuality. Depending on …

'I Would Like To, But My World Wouldn’T End If I Didn’T’: Marital Attitudes And Aspirations Among Unmarried Young Adults In The Lgbtq Community, Aaron Hoy

Sociology Department Publications

No abstract provided.

How To Navigate Parkinson's Disease As A Couple, Lauren Garcia, Evie Telfer

Human Development and Family Science Student Work

On the wedding day, two partners lovingly say "I do" to being a faithful spouse "in sickness and in health." As you know, fulfilling those vows is easier said than done. Navigating Parkinson's Disease (PD) as a couple will engage all of those coping skills, lessons, and more learned from challenges you've faced already. If you or your spouse has been diagnosed with PD, consider these tips for maintaining a healthy and thriving marriage.

Better To Forgive Or To Forget? Marital Transgressions And Forgiveness In Older Couples, Jakob Jensen, Amy Rauer, Amanda Johnson

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

Navigating romantic transgressions in older adulthood is imperative for both relationship quality and longevity, making forgiveness a critical process. The current study examined marital transgressions and forgiveness among 64 older (age range = 56–89), higher-functioning, primarily White, married couples studied at two time points spaced 16.4 months apart. More than half the spouses did not report a transgression in the past year, and not doing so was associated with better marital functioning at both time points. Of the transgressions reported, thematic analyses revealed they fell into six categories (e.g., spouse behaving badly, financial issues), but were overall relatively minor in …

Paris, The End Of The Party In Alberto Blest Gana's Los Trasplantados, Alvaro Kaempfer

Spanish Faculty Publications

Los Trasplantados [the Transplanted; the Uprooted] (1904) relates the saga of the Canalejas, a Hispanic American family that travels to France to educate their children. With the sole purpose of entering the ranks of the European aristocracy, they ultimately sacrifice one of their daughters by way of marriage. The family patriarch’s entrepreneurial vocation for social climbing, which served him well as he successfully rose into the ranks of the provincial elite in his country of origin, collapses in Paris. The Canalejas’ initial expectations of a journey give way to aspirations to integrate into Parisian high society. The narration develops as …

I Have My Degree, Now I Want A Ring: The Link Between Educational Attainment And A Happy Marriage, Yalinel Beltre

Sociology Senior Seminar Papers

The research reported here used measures of educational attainment and happiness of marriage to assess how happy college educated women are in their marriages relative to their non college educated counterparts. A regression analysis of data from the 2018 General Social Survey American indicated that there is no link between marital happiness and degree attained based on gender. The greatest indicated likelihood of being in a happy marriage of the highest quality is among those who are white identifying people, net of the estimated effects of time since first marriage and several variables that might commonly affect marital happiness such …

Five Love Languages: Assessment Of Marital Satisfaction In African American Couples, Freddricka C. Lee

LSU Master's Theses

This mixed-methods study examined marital satisfaction among five (n = 10) heterosexual, African American married couples. In particular, this study examined how acknowledging a partner’s love language (Chapman, 1995) can affect these couples’ level of marital satisfaction. The participants were native to the South and ranged from 26-55 years of age. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data revealed couples were satisfied with their marriages. Although only marginally significant, the findings also revealed acknowledging a spouse’s love language was positively related to higher levels of marital satisfaction. Seven themes emerged throughout the interviews, namely communication; financial stability; understand a spouse’s …

Accounting For Same-Sex Divorce: Relationship- Versus Self-Focused Divorce Accounts And The Meanings Of Marriage Among Gay Men And Lesbians, Aaron Hoy

Sociology Department Publications

No abstract provided.

Premarital Fertility And Marital Timing In Malawi, Michelle Poulin, Kathleen Beegle, Hongwei Xu

Publications and Research

In Malawi, Africa, the median age at first marriage is among the lowest on the continent and adolescent fertility rates are among the highest. Using high-frequency panel data from the country designed to follow single women and men into marriage, we examine the extent to which premarital fertility is associated with the timing of marriage. Two notable findings emerge. First, premarital fertility typically leads to a more rapid transition into marriage, compared to those not having had a premarital conception or birth, with controls. The effect is as strong for men as it is for women. Second, among women with …

A New Twist On The “Un-African” Script: Representing Gay And Lesbian African Weddings In Democratic South Africa, Michael W. Yarbrough

Publications and Research

This essay examines the media coverage surrounding two African weddings of lesbian and gay couples in South Africa, as a lens onto the evolving cultural politics of black queerness in that country. Two decades after South Africa launched a world-leading legal framework for LGBTI protections, I argue that these media representations depict the growing inclusion of black LGBTIQ people as a process of bridging the supposed “gap” between homosexuality and African culture. This new “bridging the gap” script seemingly rejects the older, dominant script portraying homosexuality as intrinsically “un-African.” But I argue that it instead reproduces the “un-African” script in …

When Two Become One? Communal Orientations And Their Challenges Among Married Gay Men And Lesbians, Aaron Hoy

Sociology Department Publications

No abstract provided.

Post-Birth Marriage, White-Hispanic Families, And Child Academic Achievement, Sadie Andrews Slighting

Theses and Dissertations

Over the past decade, policymakers have promoted marriage as a pathway to improve child outcomes in single-parent households. However, previous research on single mothers who later married in the United States has failed to examine how the structural advantages and disadvantages of race influence post-birth marriages and the advantage they may confer. I investigate how white advantage—the human- and social-capital benefits that come from being a white individual—acts as a resource distributed differently across three couple configurations. I predict that having access to white advantage via a white parent will improve child academic achievement. Using the US Early Childhood Longitudinal …

A Phenomenological Study Of The Impact Of Stroke On Marriage: Life Satisfaction And Occupational Performance In Daily Life, Melissa Arwood

Online Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Following a stroke, an individual may experience physical, cognitive, and emotional changes. For individuals in a marital relationship, the spouse’s life is also impacted post-stroke. The majority of current literature regarding the impact of stroke on marriage focuses on one spouse. This study sought to address this gap by exploring the impact of stroke on the marital dyad.

Method: A qualitative, phenomenological approach was used for this study. Semi-structured phone interviews were conducted. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using Colaizzi’s method as explained by Shosha (2012).

Findings: Four couples, eight participants were included in this study. One …

The Effects Of Premarital Education Promotion Policies On U.S. Divorce Rates, Tiffany Lura Clyde

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has documented the effects of divorce on children, families, communities, taxpayers, and society. Accordingly, local, state, and national governments have enacted policies aimed at strengthening marriages and reducing divorce. Currently, ten states have enacted some form of premarital education promotion policy. However, no research has documented whether the implementation of premarital education promotion policies has actually decreased the divorce rate in implementing states. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to investigate empirically the effectiveness of premarital education policy implementation on reducing early divorce rates. Prior to running any empirical analyses, an implementation study was conducted to understand …

Cross-Group Relationship Satisfaction: A Meta-Analysis, Elena Kelsey Henderson

Theses and Dissertations

Cross-group relationships are defined by romantic relationships involving two individuals from distinct racial or ethnic groups. For this paper, the terms “interethnic” and “interracial” are used as specifiers for the umbrella terms, “intergroup” and “cross-group.” Studies examining whether cross-group romantic relationships are more or less satisfying than intergroup romantic relationships have yielded discrepant findings. Through a systematic review and meta-analysis of 27 studies, we found that there are no significant difference between cross-group and intergroup relationship satisfaction (aggregate d = .024, 95% CI [-0.076; 0.123]). Tests of moderation found that the amount of Asian participants included in individual studies on …

'It Feels Like We're Together As A Team': Communal Orientations To Marriage Among Gay Men And Lesbians, Aaron Hoy

Sociology Department Publications

Scholars have observed that gay men and lesbians are more likely than heterosexual men and women to hold individualistic orientations to nonmarital relationships. However, it is unclear whether they approach marriage in the same way. Drawing on interviews with currently married gay men and lesbians, this presentation shows that many actually hold communal orientations to marriage, especially in the ways they describe their mutual interdependence, the division of household labor, and their couple-level decision-making practices.

Sociosexuality, Testosterone, And Life History Status: Prospective Associations And Longitudinal Changes Among Men In Cebu, Philippines, Lee T. Gettler, Patty X. Kuo, Stacy Rosenbaum, Josephine L. Avila, Thomas W. Mcdade, Christopher W. Kuzawa

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Sociosexuality is defined as an individual's interest in uncommitted sexual activity and can be measured in terms of both psychological orientations and behavioral expression. In socio-ecological contexts in which adults monogamously partner and cooperate to raise children, individuals with unrestricted sociosexuality are likely to prioritize mating/competition over committed partnering and parenting. Given the importance of mother-father cooperation in the evolutionary past, humans may have the capacity to facultatively and opportunistically downregulate sociosexuality to focus on priorities related to invested partnering and parenting. To date, no prior studies have used longitudinal data to track within-individuals changes in sociosexuality as it relates …

A Catholic Perspective On Marriage And The Gift Of Children - With Special Attention To Herman Dooyeweerd's Social Ontology Of Marriage, Eduardo J. Echeverria

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

Interethnic Marriages In The United States: An In-Depth Look At Marital Challenges, Spring C. Miles

Senior Theses

As ethnic diversity increases in the United States, interethnic marriages are becoming increasingly prevalent. Despite their increasing rates, interethnic unions experience lower levels of relationship quality and are at a higher risk of divorce than same-ethnic unions. Other factors that influence marital outcomes include age at marriage, education, religion, and parental divorce. However, factors that influence specifically interethnic marriages include internal stressors, such as conflicting values and relationship expectations, and external stressors, such as a lack of social support and/or legal barriers. The best theoretical framework for studying interethnic unions is interdependence theory because it analyzes these factors and their …

Lavish Weddings, Ambiguous Anniversaries: How Relationship Histories Shape The Experience Of Getting Married For Gays And Lesbians, Aaron Hoy

Sociology Department Publications

No abstract provided.

Very Long Engagements: The Persistent Authority Of Bridewealth In A Post-Apartheid South African Community, Michael W. Yarbrough

Publications and Research

This article examines the persistent authority of the customary practice for forming recognized marriages in many South African communities, centered on bridewealth and called “lobola.” Marriage rates have sharply fallen in South Africa, and many South Africans blame this on the difficulty of completing lobola amid intense economic strife. Using in-depth qualitative research from a village in KwaZulu-Natal, where lobola demands are the country’s highest and marriage rates its lowest, I argue that lobola’s authority survives because lay actors, and especially women, have innovated new repertoires of lobola behavior that allow them to pursue emerging needs and desires for marriage …

Introduction: For Better Or For Worse? Relational Landscapes In The Time Of Same-Sex Marriage, Michael W. Yarbrough

Publications and Research

As same-sex marriage has become a legal reality in a rapidly growing list of countries, the time has come to assess what this means for families and relationships on the ground. Many scholars have already begun to examine how marriage is helping some same-sex couples, but in this introduction I call for a broader and more critical research agenda. In particular, I argue that same-sex marriage crystallizes a key tension surrounding families and relationships in many contemporary societies. On the one hand, strict family norms are relaxing in many places, allowing more people to form more diverse types of caring …

Invisibility, Illegibility, And Stigma: The Citizenship Experiences Of Divorced Gays And Lesbians, Aaron Hoy

Sociology Department Publications

No abstract provided.

Our Family Functions: Functions Of Traditional Weddings For Modern Brides And Postmodern Families, Medora W. Barnes

Medora W. Barnes

In many ways the continued popularity of traditional weddings in the United States may seem surprising in light of the increased rates of divorce, cohabitation, and non-marital child-bearing in the latter half of the twentieth century, which have accompanied the rise of what has come to be called the "postmodern" family. This research draws upon in-depth interviews with twenty white, middle class women who recently had traditional weddings and explores the connections between the postmodern family context and the desirability of traditional weddings. Specifically, it examines how traditional functions of formal weddings are still relevant within contemporary society. Findings indicate …