Marital Unit Research Articles

Exploring marital safety: three South African wives living with HIV in nonmutual monogamous marriage

For wives who have been sexually monogamous, their being infected with HIV disrupts the cultural assumption of sexual safety in marriage. This phenomenological interview study shows how three married South African women, who were diagnosed with HIV and had reported being monogamous, experienced gendered distress while contemplating the failures of married coupledom in offering safety and familial stability. Constructionist thematic analysis showed three themes to represent changes in the marital unit. The first theme, HIV as Demarcation of Enduring Disruption, pointed to infection as the harbinger of distressing relational dynamics. The second theme, Feeling Controlled, reflected domains in which the wives felt trapped: restricted freedoms and obligatory intimacy. The third theme, Relational Deterioration, showed meanings about infidelity, fights or arguments, and distress about partner disengagement. Highlighted in this analysis is that, for two women, male control and disempowerment after having been infected with HIV added to their experiences of feeling trapped because they felt pressured into regressing into subservient spousal roles. They were required to retreat into household, mothering, and child care duties. The study’s practice implication is that, to address the aftermath of the discovery of HIV infection in heterosexual married couples, wherein sexual monogamy remains the unquestioned norm, health psychology and clinical interventions should incorporate a gendered approach in counselling formulation.

Gate-Cane: (Un)tying the knots between climate, cane, and early marriage in rural India

ABSTRACT In this article, I examine the multiple tensions and interactions between social reproduction and the trajectories of accumulation amidst climate change in India’s historically drought-prone Marathwada region. By linking everyday experiences to broader socioecological transformations, I draw on the local practice of Gate-Cane weddings in Marathwada, and situate it within the context of climate change, capitalist agriculture, and gendered labour relations. Specifically, I document the ways in which cyclical drought and peculiar labour arrangements in the sugarcane industry have multiplied the drivers and compounded the problem of early marriage in the region. I combine a feminist political ecology framework with social reproduction and girlhood theories to make a twofold argument: first, recurring dry spells, loss of local livelihoods and the urgency to migrate and survive, are aggravating the drivers of early marriage in Marathwada. Second, by absorbing the marital unit into the labour unit – marked by territorial dislocation, patriarchal control, and devaluation of young women’s and girls’ work – the sugar industry sustains and reproduces early marriage. The article is based on a multi-sited feminist ethnography, including intergenerational family conversations, group discussions, stakeholder interviews, and thick field notes documented in village households and cane fields between October 2020 and August 2021.

Association Between Nurses' Spirituality and Frequency of Spiritual Therapeutic Care in Turkey.

This study evaluated the association between nurse spirituality and frequency of spiritual care among 560 nurses working at Dicle University Hospital in Turkey. The Spirituality Scale and the Nurse Spiritual Care Therapeutic Scale were administered. Results indicated that scores on the Spirituality Scale were positively correlated with frequency of provision of spiritual care (Nurse Spiritual Care Therapeutic Scale). It was found that the spirituality levels of the nurses had a positive effect (R2 = 0.245, B = 0.391, p < 0.0001) on the frequency of providing spiritual curative care. It was determined that the frequency of providing spiritual care of nurses with high spirituality level increased. No significant associations were found between Nurse Spiritual Care Therapeutic Scale means of point and gender, marital status, education level, unit work, or duration of professional experience.

A Qualitative Study on the Experience of Elderly Men Caring Their Wives in Japan

본 연구는 일본의 남성노인 돌봄 경험을 통해 최근 증가하고 있는 한국에서 아내를 돌보는 남성노인에 대한 시사점을 얻는 것을 목적으로 한다. 이를 위해 돌봄 기간이 1년 이상이면서 공식적 돌봄을 이용하고 있는 일본 남성노인 5명을 심층 인터뷰 하였다. 자료 분석은 일반적 질적 연구 분석 방법에 근거하였다. 분석 결과, 5개의 범주가 도출 되었다. 범주는 <돌봄 마주하기와 책임성>, <부담되는 현실과의 직면>, <돌봄 경험의 익숙해짐>, <돌봄 속박의 굴레>, <돌봄의 관계적 경험>이다. 이를 통해 ‘부부관계, 남편으로서의 도리’ 등과 같은 사회적 가치가 돌봄 책임을 수용하는 요인이었으며, 다양한 공적 서비스들이 남성노인의 돌봄 유지에 깊이 관여하고 있는 것으로 파악되었다. 특히 개호보험 제도의 케어매니저 서비스는 남성노인들의 돌봄 전반에 영향을 미치고 있었으며, 다양한 가족지원 서비스 이용은 남성노인들의 돌봄과 일생생활에 부담 감소와 자유를 주는 것으로 나타났다. 따라서 부부간 개입의 중요성, 공식적 돌봄을 통한 돌봄 윤리의 실천 가능성, 고립의 위험성을 시사해 주었다. 분석 결과를 토대로 기존 여성 중심으로 이루어진 노인 돌봄지원 정책에 대한 조정, 한국형 케어매니지먼트 도입, 다양한 서비스의 지원이 한국사회에 필요함을 제언하였다. 마지막으로 장기요양서비스 이용자 외의 돌봄 경험을 살펴보지 못했다는 점과 대도시에 거주하는 남성노인의 경험만을 제한적으로 살펴보았다는 점이 본 연구의 한계라 하겠다.The purpose of this study is to grasp the implications for male elderly care in Korea, which has recently been on the rise through Japan s experience in male elderly care. Five elderly Japanese men providing cares for their wives for more than a year with formal care were interviewed in depth. The data analysis was based on a general qualitative research analysis method. The results were derived from the following five categories: facing care and responsibility, facing the burden of reality, the familiarity with care experience, the ties with burdens of care, and the relationship-oriented experience of care. Social values such as ‘marriage relationship’ and ‘husbandry’ were the main factors that accepted care responsibilities. Various formal LTC services were found to be deeply involved in sustaining care for male elderly people. In particular, the care management service was affecting the overall care and everyday life of the elderly, and the use of various services was found to give freedom to the care life of the elderly. These findings imply the importance of an intervention to one marital unit as a client system, the practicability of care ethics through formal care, and the special needs of isolation of men elderly. Based on these results the study suggests that the Korean society needs to adjust the existing women-centered care policy, to introduce Korean-style care management, and to support various other services for male elderly care givers.

Intervenções Preventivas com Casais: O que Podemos Aprender com a Experiência Internacional?

Resumo A dissolução da unidade conjugal é um desafio familiar e para os diversos sistemas sociais a esta relacionados. O objetivo deste artigo é revisar a literatura sobre programas preventivos com casais, visando a identificar os formatos de sucesso, as lacunas existentes no que é oferecido no Brasil e o que podemos aprender com a experiência internacional. Os dados são apresentados e discutidos privilegiando os estudos que se mostraram teórica e empiricamente relevantes para o desenvolvimento de um programa adaptado à realidade brasileira. Os estudos encontrados apontam para a eficácia das intervenções preventivas na promoção de habilidades relacionadas à resiliência conjugal. Entretanto, os mecanismos de mudança implicados nesse processo e sua repercussão na qualidade conjugal ainda não foram esclarecidos.

Reading Plutarch’s Women: Moral Judgement in the Moralia and Some Lives

Plutarch has two distinct bodies of work: the Moralia and the Lives. Increasingly, however, questions about the unity of Plutarch’s work as a whole have been raised, and it has become of some concern to scholars of ancient biography to establish the level of philosophical content in the Lives. A comparative study of the women of the Lives and those in the Moralia may provide some insight into Plutarch’s greater philosophical project and narrative aims. Plutarch’s writings on and for women in the Conjugalia praecepta, Mulierum virtutes, Amatorius, De Iside et Osiride, and Consolatio ad uxorem lays a firm groundwork for the role of Woman in society and the marital unit. The language in these works is consistent with the language used to describe women in the Lives, where historical women appear as exempla for the moral improvement of his female students. This case study of five prominent women in the Lives reveals an uncomfortable probability: Plutarch presents women in the Lives in accordance with the principles set out in the Moralia and uses certain concepts to guide his readers towards a judgement of the exempla that agrees with his views on the ideal Woman.

Towards intimate geographies of peace? Local reconciliation of domestic violence in Cambodia

This paper addresses the dearth of writing in geography on domestic violence and its misplaced absenteeism in dialogues on geographies of war and peace. It challenges a preoccupation with (inter)‐national landscapes of war and militarism through its focus on the (im)possibilities of (liberal) peace within the home. The paper attends to the everyday politics of efforts to reduce spousal violence via local reconciliation – a customary practice of conflict resolution that has attracted criticism from the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. On the basis of 120 interviews and a quantitative household survey in two provinces of Cambodia (2012–2014), the paper argues that political economy considerations are crucial to understanding the path and outcome of various domestic violence interventions. By analysing the situated beliefs and experiences of domestic violence victims, legal professionals, NGO workers, police officers and other authority leaders, it also stresses the importance of questioning what peace equates to for different stakeholders. The research shows a strong moralistic commitment to ‘harmony’ and the unyielding continuity of the marital unit by national and local government machinery intent on securing its own intimate security through local reconciliation. For many women who suffer abuse, and for legal professionals in particular, local reconciliation represents, by contrast, an ambiguous departure from intimate war to peace that can lead to the detriment rather than betterment of victims’ lives. Its continued use contravenes the country's 2005 domestic violence law in ‘severe’ cases and belies the promise of justice. Exposing and responding to the cultural ideals and norms promulgated, as well as the political and material realities operative, geographers have a greater role and responsibility to play in producing research that examines the multi‐scalar connections between these dynamics and the vested interests of their various interlocutors who have the potential to render peace putative.

The New Super-Charged PAT (Power of Appointment Trust)

This article proposes to repeal the QTIP provisions in order to collect revenue now for transfers that are essentially transfers to third parties and not to the decedent's spouse. Because there are advantages of increased flexibility attendant to a QTIP as opposed to a PAT, this article proposes to take those repealed QTIP benefits and attach them to the PAT, which would greatly enhance that marital deduction trust form. A super-charged PAT would thereby be able to preserve the decedent's GST tax exemption (like a reverse QTIP), create a decedent's by-pass trust by allowing a PAT (or a partial PAT) election-out, and create a decedent's state-only PAT marital deduction. The super-charged PAT would provide for much desired post-mortem tax planning without the complex and strict requirements of a disclaimer. Moreover, the new PAT would eliminate conflicts of interest and fiduciary problems inherent in the QTIP form of the marital deduction. Lastly, by repealing the QTIP provisions and by super-charging the PAT, the marital deduction would truly be a marital deduction and not a third party beneficiary tax deferral device. I have criticized the QTIP trust on the basis that the QTIP provisions are both illogical and sexist. The QTIP provisions are illogical because they conflict with their stated public policy goal of taxing marital property when it leaves the marital unit and passes to other beneficiaries. Because the goal of the marital deduction is to tax property when it leaves the marital unit and because the QTIP expressly endorses passing the property to third parties at the first spouse’s death, the QTIP undermines the fundamental rationale for the marital deduction. Likewise, the QTIP provisions are sexist. They treat women as the invisible spouse and they equate giving an income interest to women with giving them the corpus. With the QTIP, the first spouse to die controls the disposition of the corpus and he selects the decision maker who will make the QTIP election. The QTIP provisions implicitly equate giving an income interest to women with giving them the property itself because unlike the other exceptions to the terminable interest rule in which the widow is given a rough equivalent to outright ownership of the corpus, the QTIP provisions allow a marital deduction for the full value of the property at the husband's death even though the surviving spouse, the other half of the marital unit, receives only the income interest in that property. A PAT provides the surviving spouse with both an income interest and a power to appoint the property to herself or to her estate; it is considered an equivalent to ownership although this article recommends that the PAT require that the surviving spouse be entitled to both an inter vivos and a testamentary power of appointment over the trust property. The PAT, however, has all but disappeared as a marital transfer because of the popularity of the QTIP. This article proposes to repeal the QTIP provisions but recognizes that repeal is virtually impossible because of certain well-liked features of the QTIP that have nothing to do with the decedent’s desire for dead hand control, but which provide advantages of increased flexibility in estate planning. Therefore, this article proposes to take those repealed QTIP “flexibility” benefits and attach them to the PAT to create a “super-charged” PAT to take the place of the QTIP trust.

FC06-01 - Comparison feels stress levels in parents of mentally retarded children and normal

IntroductionThe existence of mentally retarded children in the family caused despair, frustration and isolation of individual and family are and their push for diversity issues on individual family members and parents as a marital unit and the total family system as a family show.ObjectiveThis study compared the amount of stress parents feel mentally retarded children with parents is normal.MethodThe study after the event (Ali - a comparison) is.The sample of 120 parents of retarded children and 120 parents of normal children using a sampling Chndmrhlh chosen. To check the source of feeling stress questionnaire stress (QRS) was used and analysis of data by independent t tests May Pearson.ResultsResults showed that parental stress in two groups of mentally retarded children and parents have significantly different normal and feeling stress parents of mentally retarded children than parents were normal. Between mothers and fathers of mentally retarded children in terms of Nshdv significant difference in stress levels stress parents of mentally retarded children were the same.the child's gender had no impact on parent stress levels, but between the retarded child's age and parental stress there was a significant relationship, whatever the case retarded child's age increased parental stress will increase. Similarly, parental education and children backward stress there was no significant difference whatever the parents are more educated than parents with lower education have less stress.DiscussionThe results show parents of mentally retarded children than normal children, parents significantly more stress they endure.

Wedded to the Joint Return: Culture and the Persistence of the Marital Unit in the American Income Tax

The United States, unlike most developed countries, continues to use the marital couple as the taxable unit for its income tax. This continued use of the marital unit— like its original establishment —rests on cultural preferences. This Article suggests that the roles of marriage, religion and taxation in America are essential factors in America’s retention of the marital unit. Part I examines the distinctive contribution marriage — especially the traditional single-earner breadwinner marriage — makes to the political life of the country. Part II explores the similar role of religion. Part III describes some congressional efforts over the past two decades to aid, ostensibly, married couples through the income tax. Part IV concludes that although these actions have not been the most effective or efficient means of helping married couples, they nevertheless serve an important expressive purpose. Tax has been the arena for many political issues since the founding of the nation. Consequently, congressional actions and rhetoric regarding the income tax’s "marriage penalty" reinforce the marital unit/joint return and reaffirm — even if only symbolically — a national commitment to marriage as instrumental to American democracy.

Maternal adult attachment representations across relationship domains and infant outcomes: the importance of family and couple functioning

This study focused on maternal adult attachment with respect to family of origin experiences (assessed using the Adult Attachment Interview) as well as maternal marital attachment (assessed using the Marital Attachment Interview), both obtained during the prenatal period, to evaluate the extent to which accounting for family interaction patterns helps to elucidate links between mothers' adult attachment and children's attachment security. This conceptualization begins to address the complex nature of attachment within the family context, and findings suggest that family process (marital and family unit relationships) is an important mechanism to examine as a link between adult attachment and child outcomes.

Residential Mobility in Chinese Cities: A Longitudinal Analysis

This paper aims to understand residential mobility in non-market economies by conducting a case study of Chinese cities, a socialist society in transition. It is argued that residential mobility in China is mainly triggered by changes in housing supply and housing qualification, both of which are determined by housing policies. Using a retrospective survey (1949–94) in 20 Chinese cities, it was found that while the overall mobility is low, it has fluctuated significantly over time with a recent rising trend, which corresponds to historical changes in housing policies. The longitudinal models show that while some factors such as change of marital status and work units have consistent effects on mobility over time, indicating the persistency of the socialist housing system, others such as housing tenure have different effects over time, demonstrating changes in the Chinese housing system. The results share some similarities with the Western models, yet they demonstrate significant differences despite recent market penetrations. A framework that emphasizes the roles of the state and housing policies, and their change over time is needed to better understand residential mobility in China.

Women’s Status and Marital Satisfaction in Bolivia

A critical debate in the literature recently has centered on women’s autonomy, and particularly its effects on the marital unit and the family functions. This study uses information gathered from 865 mothers with children under the age of twelve in Bolivian communities to examine the relationship between women’s status, autonomy and marital satisfaction. In particular, four linear regression models are tested to examine the individual and collective relationships between status, relational, and autonomy variables and marital satisfaction. The amount of respect a wife receives from her husband in the home and her ability to express her opinion in her marital union are significantly correlated with higher levels of marital satisfaction. These findings suggest that raising women’s autonomy in these aforementioned areas enhances their satisfaction with their marital unions and familial situations. Women’s status and autonomy, as indicated by the amount of respect they receive and their ability to express their opinion are important dynamics in marital relationships.

Management Strategies of Sexual Dysfunctions

The purpose of this essay is to discuss on the possible impact on a couple's sexual relationships when the male partner's erectile problems contribute to a sexual dysfunction on the part of the female. The complex reciprocal nature of sexual interactions emphasizes the importance of the relationship for sexual function and dysfunction. The treatment of sexual dysfunction then takes into account the contribution of factors from the couple and the system. An integrated behavioural-systems approach is applied to address both sexual and non-sexual aspects of the interaction in the ‘marital unit.’ This approach outlines a range of methods that may be used during the treatment of sexual dysfunctions in order to bring about relevant changes in sexual functioning and general relationships.

Greek parents' reactions, difficulties and resources in childhood leukaemia at the time of diagnosis.

Open-ended interviews were used to examine parental psychological reactions, difficulties and resources during the period following the diagnosis of childhood leukaemia. Data were obtained from 71 randomly selected mothers and fathers of children diagnosed with leukaemia at least 3 months prior to the study. The content analysis revealed a wide diversity of parental responses including many of the defensive mechanisms described in the literature such as shock, denial, anxiety and guilt. The most difficult factors for the parents to deal with during the initial period were the psychological upset and the financial burden. Problems associated with relating to others and to the health care system were also identified. Hope, social support and the marital relationship were the most helpful resources in managing the multifaceted problems caused by the diagnosis. Forty-five per cent of the participants felt that the quality of their marital relationship was improved, whereas fewer reported that the diagnosis seriously disturbed their marriage. Spouses were found to adopt symmetrical rather than complementary ways of responding to and coping with the event. Nurses have a key role in assessing the individual parent, the marital unit and the entire family system and planning appropriate interventions.

Pain behavior, spouse responsiveness, and marital satisfaction in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Although the pain behavior of some diagnostic groups has been shown to be reactive to social influences, the reactivity of pain behavior in a rheumatoid arthritis (RA) population remains an open question. The authors in this article combined laboratory and self-report assessment techniques to examine the extent to which the pain report and behavior of 52 RA patients was susceptible to influence of social factors within the marital unit. The authors' findings suggest that (a) different types of spouse responsiveness (e.g., solicitous, punishing) may be viewed differently by the RA population than more general chronic pain populations; (b) the patient's perception of spouse responsiveness is a significant predictor of the pain behavior, whereas the spouse's perception of these same behaviors is not; and (c) the patient's perception of the spouse's responsive behavior adds significantly to the prediction of pain behavior over a model based on "disease impact" variables alone.

The Marital Deduction QTIP Provisions: Illogical and Degrading to Women

In 1981, Congress enacted the qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) provisions that allow an estate and gift tax marital deduction for the full value of the underlying property where a spouse receives only a qualifying income interest for life and where the executor of the estate or the donor spouse makes a timely election. The article reviews the history of the marital deduction and its evolved rationale, explains and analyzes the current QTIP provisions together with their supposed comity with the decision to adopt the marital unit as the proper unit of transfer taxation, illustrates how the QTIP demeans women, and proposes that Congress repeal the QTIP provisions.

Gender Differences in Formal Care Use in Later Life

This article assesses gender differences in the use of formal versus informal sources of in-home care among impaired elders. Data from the 1984 panel of the Survey of Income and Program Participation are used in the analysis. The results suggest that married women are more likely to receive formal care than are married men, but this pattern does not hold for the unmarried. This result is consistent with gendered expectations regarding caregiving and receipt within the marital unit.

Familial risk factors associated with intrafamilial and extrafamilial sexual abuse of three to five year old girls.

This study intended to identify familial risk factors which differentiate sexually abused young girls from nonabused girls and, further, young victims of intrafamilial from those of extrafamilial sexual abuse. The subjects were 112 girls aged three to five years and their families. Forty-two were the victims of intrafamilial sexual abuse and 28 were victims of extrafamilial sexual abuse while 42 girls were not the victims of abuse. The three groups of girls were matched for age. Comparisons indicated that the families of abused girls had less harmony and stability in the marital unit and were headed by less competent parents. Mothers in both abuse groups were significantly more likely to have experienced sexual abuse as children. For all comparisons, the intrafamilial group showed greater disadvantage and dysfunction than the extrafamilial group. The intrafamilial group was differentiated from the extrafamilial group by worse spousal relationships, inadequate boundaries in parent-child behaviour, father's history of physical abuse as a child and violent behaviour as an adult and maternal disapproval of the child victim. These findings suggest that child sexual abuse is related to a longstanding collection of interconnected adult personal and relational deficiencies which result in inadequate parenting for the young victim.

The Impact of Dementia:

Even though only one person in the marital relationship is likely to have the diagnosis, demenita really has two victims-the inflicted spouse and the caregiver. Research on both these 'victims' to date, has been largely restricted to furthering an understanding of the issues from a medical and stress/burden perspective. Only limited attention has been given to addressing the psychodynamic issues which evolve in reaction to the disease process. These issues however, have important implications on service needs and utilization and warrant exploration. Self psychology offers a promising framework for doing this. The purpose of this article is to examine the impact of dementia on the marital unit using this theoretical perspective.