Marital quality in a context of displacement: the role of union formation characteristics among Syrian refugee and Jordanian youth

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Marital quality is an important determinant of well-being and is related to how unions are formed. Both processes of union formation and marital relationships may be influenced by stressful conditions, including insecurity and displacement. We leverage unique representative data on young Syrian refugees in Jordan to learn more about the interplay between displacement, union formation characteristics and marital quality. Through comparisons with youth from the Jordanian host population, we assess the role of key contextual predictors of marital quality, such as consanguinity and young people’s role in choosing their spouse, with a focus on gender differences. We measure marital quality with six separate items capturing aspects of equality, respect and interpersonal communication and a unidimensional scale identified through exploratory factor analysis. Results show that consanguinity, marital duration and number of children are generally unrelated to marital quality in both populations. In contrast, involvement in spouse choice emerges as the strongest predictor, with both Syrians and Jordanians in family-arranged unions experiencing lower-quality marriages. Among Syrians, women suffer more from lower marital quality, especially when arranged unions happen at a young age, and marriages formed after displacement to Jordan appear more fragile. The study is one of the first to explore predictors of marital quality in a non-Western, conflict-affected population. The findings emphasise the importance of the demographic study of family dynamics in situations of insecurity and displacement moving beyond a narrow focus on marriage timing to cover a wider range of marriage outcomes related to family well-being.