Pornography and Marriage

We used data on 20,000 ever-married adults in the General Social Survey to examine the relationship between watching pornographic films and various measures of marital well-being. We found that adults who had watched an X-rated movie in the past year were more likely to be divorced, more likely to have had an extramarital affair, and less likely to report being happy with their marriage or happy overall. We also found that, for men, pornography use reduced the positive relationship between frequency of sex and happiness. Finally, we found that the negative relationship between pornography use and marital well-being has, if anything, grown stronger over time, during a period in which pornography has become both more explicit and more easily available.     

Debatable Marriages: Marriage and Child Marriage in Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

This article examines marriage and the constitution of familial relationships in Saudi Arabia, with a specific focus on one form of marriage that has recently become an issue of public, political, and religious discussion, that of “child marriage.” The situation within Saudi Arabia is compared with gendered relationships in other countries, most notably those in Western Europe, with specific attention given to the United Kingdom. It is argued that policy developments in Saudi Arabia need to be seen in the context of wider Saudi culture, Sharia law, and religious interpretations of the Koran.     

Traumatic Childhood and Marriage

Abstract

This exploratory, qualitative study of 84 adults who have survived and transcended a traumatic childhood describes the role their spouses played in the process of rising above their difficult childhood experiences. The participants talked about what they were looking for in a spouse, negative marriage experiences, and the positive role spousal support played in transcending the traumatic childhood. The study of their lives reveals important insights into the role of marriage in the process by which people grow into healthy adults. These insights will be useful to people who work with couples in which one person is seeking to leave past difficulties behind.     

Same-Sex Marriage

Abstract

In this commentary, the legal ramifications and implications of the recent ruling by the Massachusetts Supreme Court allowing same-sex marriages to occur in that state are examined. The author then suggests a hypothetical scenario for what the future might look like assuming that the Massachusetts decision is not overturned by adoption of a state constitutional amendment.     

No-Illusion Marriage and No-Fault Divorce

Les «états civils» célibat et du mariage et le rite du divorce sont placés dans une cadre d'analyse socio-anthropologique afin d'éviter un embrouillement des perspectives sociales et psychologiques. Les explications d'un conflit familial et du divorce en résultant s'appliquent-elles même dans des situations culturelles où les motivations psychologiques ne sont pas à l'origine de l'union initiale? Ou bien, est-il sensé et logique de formuler l'hypothèse - en vue d'une théorie unifiée et simplifyée - que tout mariage prenant fin dans un acte délibéré, se termine pour des fins se rattachent essentiellement aux principles culturellement défines et sanctionés sur lesquels repose l'institution du mariage. Ce qui importe au niveau anthropologique ce n'est pas la stabilityé relative des mariages individuels, mais plutôt jusqu'à quel niveau l'institution possède et conserve, dans chaque conjoncture culturelle, une utilityé dans les processus de decisions individuelles et collectives. Un rapport est établi entre les taux de mariage, de célibat et de divorce et une typologie qui distingue les sociétés où le mariage a une utilityé se manifestant dans une concaténation des roles et tâches domestiques, des sociétés où les unions donnent lieu à la spécialisation des roles et des tâches.     

Marriage,Obesity and Dieting

Despite the importance of marriage as a basic social institution, there has been little analysis of the relationship between marriage and obesity. This paper reviews work on the prevalence of obesity by marital status; factors associated with obesity as a criterion for entry into marriage; the similarity of fatness in marital partners; changes in weight in relationship to marital problems; and the relationship between obesity and marital termination. The application of knowledge about marriage and obesity to weight loss therapy is also considered. More research is needed to specify the extent, form and dynamics of the relationship between obesity and marriage.     

Marriage and State-level Economic Outcomes

Past research has examined various state-level measures that predict state economic growth and other economic and social indicators. This research has largely ignored the potential role of family structure in contributing to state-level outcomes, despite the extensive literature on links between family structure and economic outcomes at the individual level. We estimated a state-level panel model and found that both the proportion of adults and the proportion of parents who are married are strongly related to important state-level economic outcomes, including economic growth, median household income, median personal income, and poverty.     

Gender and International Marriage Migration

In the last two decades, the growth of intra-regional marriage migration in Asia has stimulated scholarly interest in destination countries. Marriage migration led to social, demographic, and cultural transformations of current and future generations in these countries, and raised new issues in relation to race, ethnicity, gender, class, and nationality. Recent scholarly work on international marriage migration has moved beyond the so-called mail-order bride discourse and has critically examined various aspects of the experiences of women marriage migrants in affinal families, communities, and societies. Influenced by the postcolonial feminist perspective, a great deal of the ethnographic and qualitative research on international marriage migration focuses on women’s agency, the patriarchal and heteronormative underpinnings of marriage, and incongruous gender relations, as well as the dynamics between local transformations and the global political economy.     

Marriage and Coming Out:

Understanding of the process by which an individual with same sex sexual orientation becomes aware of his homosexuality and eventually embraces homosexual idetity is of great interest and importance to social work and the other helping professions. The coming out process appears to take place over an extended period of time and to have identifiable and predictable stages. This paper explored the process of coming out in a sample of 15 self-identified gay men who had been married to women. Four patterns of reasons for marriage in this group emerged, which we call: Repressed, Naive, Wistful and Pragmatic. Implications for social work practice are presented.     

Marriage matching and gender satisfaction

The performance of the Gale–Shapley marriage matching algorithm (Am Math Mon 16:217–222, 1962) has been studied extensively in the special case of men’s and women’s preferences random. We drop the assumption that women’s preferences are random and show that , where R _n is the men’s expected level of satisfaction, that is, the expected sum of men’s rankings of their assigned mates, when the men-propose Gale–Shapley algorithm is used to match n men with n women. This is a step towards establishing a conjecture of Knuth (Mariages Stables et leurs relations avec d’ autres problémes combinatoires, 1976, CRM Proceedings and Lecture Notes, Vol 10, 1997) of 30 years standing. Under the same assumptions, we also establish bounds on the expected rankings by women of their assigned mates.     

Substance Use and Early Marriage

Prior work indicates that substance use is related to adolescent marriage. We describe two different processes that may account for this relationship and hypothesize patterns of association that would be consistent or inconsistent with each. Using data from a study that followed west coast youth from 7th grade to young adulthood (N = 3,324), we assessed the effects of cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana use in 7th and 10th grade on the probability of marriage prior to age 20. When gender, race, and SES were controlled, cigarette use in adolescence, but not other substance use, was associated with early marriage. Low educational attainment and early unwed parenthood each uniquely mediated this association. These results suggest that the link between substance use and early marriage reflects a disposition toward risky or unconventional behavior, not the judgment‐impairing effects of drug and alcohol use.     

Same-Sex Marriage and Legalized Relationships

Abstract

At a time when heterosexual marriage rates are declining, many countries and localities are advocating for the rights of lesbians and gay men to enter legalized relationships, including marriage. This article reviews the legal status of same-sex relationships in the U.S. and other countries. Not only does the general public have mixed opinions about same-sex marriage, but so do lesbian and gay male communities. Some of the theories about pros and cons of same-sex marriage will be presented. The article reviews the very scant literature on same-sex legalized relationships and presents some ideas for future research.     

Attitudes Toward Gay Marriage in States Undergoing Marriage Law Transformation

This study examines attitudes toward gay marriage within the context of concern over the weakening of heterosexual marriage. We use data from a three‐state survey conducted in 1998 – 2000 and designed to explore attitudes toward marriage and divorce reform (N = 976). We find that women, Whites, and younger persons are more approving of gay marriage than men, Blacks, and older persons. Nonparents with cohabitation experience are most approving, whereas parents with no cohabitation experience are most opposed. Heterosexual marriage preservation attitudes are key predictors, net of religiosity and political conservativism. We interpret these findings with theories about vested interest in upholding marriage as an institution and ambivalence resulting from conflicting core values of the sanctity of marriage versus the valorization of individualism.     

Korean Interracial Marriage

No abstract available for this article.     

Sexually Open Marriage

In this article the author describes sexually open marriage in the lives of 71 individuals. These persons make up three groups—persons in open relationships, persons divorced or separated after an open relationship and secondary partners of persons in open relationships—and are described as they experience their open relationships and then, two years later, as they evaluate the changes in their open sexual relationships. Similarities and differences among these three groups are discussed. In addition, this article looks at the ground rules that are established, jealousy issues and their management, and it discusses the role of equity and equality in sexually open relationships.     

Efficiency in Marriage

Economists usually assume that bargaining in marriage leads to efficient outcomes. The most convincing rationale for this assumption is the belief that efficient allocations are likely to emerge from repeated interactions in stationary environments, and that marriage provides such an environment. This paper argues that when a current decision affects future bargaining power, inefficient outcomes are plausible. If the spouses could make binding commitments–in effect, commitments to refrain from exploiting the future bargaining advantage–then the inefficiency would disappear. But spouses seldom can make binding commitments regarding allocation within marriage.To investigate the efficiency of bargaining within marriage when choices affect future bargaining power, we consider the location decisions of two-earner couples. Initial location decisions are transparent and analytically tractable examples of choices likely to affect future bargaining power, but the logic of our analysis applies to many other decisions. For example, decisions about education, fertility, and labor force participation are also potential sources of inefficiency.     

Childbearing and Marriage: Investigating the Importance of Context for Meaning-Making of First-Time Marriage

Previous research reveals that the temporal ordering of childbearing and marriage can have an impact on the meaning of first-time marriage. This article aims to obtain a deeper understanding of meaning-making of first-time marriage in relation to childbearing. Narrative interviews with 16 brides and grooms in 8 couples in Sweden were conducted. The material was analyzed in relation to the temporal ordering of childbearing and marriage. The study reveals that the construction of meaning of marriage does not only relate to the temporal context. Social factors such as social class or family formation might also be relevant for how meaning is constructed. This article contributes to a deeper understanding of meaning-making as a relational process constructed within particular contexts.     

Money Over Marriage: Marriage Importance as a Mediator Between Materialism and Marital Satisfaction

While the negative relationship between materialism and marital satisfaction is well documented, mediators that possibly explain this association have not been widely explored. Based on the Incompatibility of Materialism and Children Model and Marital Paradigms Theory, this article explores the perception of marriage importance as a potential mediator between materialism and marital satisfaction. Using a sample of 1310 married individuals, we found evidence of partial mediation in that materialism was negatively associated with perception of marriage importance, and this association partially explained why being materialistic was associated with lower marital satisfaction. Thus, as counselors, therapists, and financial planners work with married clients, it is important that they consider how their clients’ materialistic tendencies may influence the family both financially and relationally. Suggestions for future research are discussed.