Marriage Norms Research Articles

Research on the Identity of Socialist Core Values and Marriage and Family Legislation

As the latest regulation of marriage and family affairs, the judicial interpretation of the Marriage and Family Part of the Civil Code aims to strengthen the understanding and application of the specific systems of the Marriage and Family Part of the Civil Code, balance the basic interests of different subjects, sort out various emerging phenomena in dynamic marriage and family relations, and solve the dilemma of fairness in the measurement of heterogeneous interests. Therefore, the internal mechanism and value direction of marriage norms are particularly important. The core values of socialism embody the excellent qualities of China's traditional culture, and its main connotation is the guiding ideology of marriage and family legislation, and it is also the soul of trial rules. Whether the core socialist values and marriage and family legislation are the same is the basic theory and precondition of the above issues. In the paradigm of identity theory, the improvement of marriage and family legislative rules aimed at socialist core values is an important topic in legislation and justice.

Parental status influences human-to-pet caregiving behaviors, attachment, and attitudes in a Finnish sample

Abstract A growing body of literature suggests people are choosing to forego parenthood, bringing companion animals into the home as a focus for people’s attachment and caretaking behavior instead. This emergent “pet parenting” can be defined as the parent-like investment in companion animals and has been linked to countries that are experiencing or have experienced the Second Demographic Transition (SDT) marked by subreplacement fertility, changing marriage norms, increased educational attainment, and a flexible life orientation no longer focused solely on reproduction. In this research, we sought to determine if Finland, a country where the SDT has already been evidenced, is also experiencing an emergence of pet parenting and whether there is a difference between parents’, nonparents’, and future parents’ attachment and caregiving behaviors toward companion animals in the home. A total of 857 participants completed an online survey delivered in Finnish and English which included demographic questions, the Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale (LAPS), and a series of questions designed to probe topics regarding the training of companion animals, generalized caretaking, and the ascription of personhood or autonomy to companion animals under the respondent’s care. Future parents reported more agreement across all scales of the LAPS, followed by nonparents than parents. Future parents also reported more frequency of behaviors associated with Affective Responsiveness , while nonparents reported more frequency of behaviors associated with Training and Play and General Care . From our results, we argue that Finland does seem to be experiencing the emergence of pet parenting, likely in response to the SDT, and this is demonstrated by marked differences in attachment and caregiving behaviors directed at companion animals in the home.

Premarital Cohabitation, Marital Dissolution, and Marital Quality in China

Using data from the 2018 Chinese Family Panel Studies, this study examines the associations between premarital cohabitation, marital satisfaction, and the probability of a subsequent divorce and captures the gradated variations of marital quality by incorporating divorce and self-rated marital satisfaction into a generic measure of marital quality. Findings show positive associations between cohabitation and divorce and negative associations between cohabitation and marital quality. Results further show that the negative association between cohabitation and marital quality is weakened by better education, higher income, and rural origin, and stronger among men. The consistent negative associations between cohabitation and all the marital quality outcomes indicate the persistent strength of the norm of universal marriage, based on which cohabitation is still considered substantively distinct from marriage both in terms of legal status and social recognition. The diverse social gradients of the cohabitation-marital quality links reflect the heterogeneous social meanings of cohabitation in contemporary China.

‘Bending’ against straightening devices: queer lived experiences of sexuality and sexual health in Bangladesh

BackgroundDespite global data around increased health risks among sexual and gender diverse populations, lived experiences of young lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, and others (LGBTQ+) people are often ignored in mainstream health research. This is particularly evident in countries such as Bangladesh where the rights of sexual minorities are not recognised. This article looks at queer lived experiences of sexuality and sexual health within such a context. We use the phenomenological framework of heteronormative ‘straightening devices’ – mechanisms working to direct people towards heterosexuality, gender conformity, and procreative marriage – to identify ‘invisible’ structures upholding normative sexual behaviours and see how young people in Bangladesh navigate these in their everyday lives.MethodsThis article is based on qualitative data collected in Dhaka, Bangladesh over nine months in 2019 as part of the first author’s doctoral research. Using thematic analysis, we draw on experiences of normative sexual expectations from biographical in-depth interviews with 14 purposively sampled LGBTQ + individuals aged 18 to 24.ResultsRespondents identified heteronormative expectations around gender norms of traditional behaviour and presentation for men and women as well as parental expectations of compulsory heterosexuality through marriage. These straightening devices existed at multiple levels, including individual, interpersonal, community, and societal. The four main themes around straightening devices include marriage norms for women; harassment of feminine-presenting bodies in public spaces; heteronormative healthcare; and consequences of not embodying heteronormativity.ConclusionOur study highlighted young people’s everyday experiences of having to ‘bend’ to – and against – heteronormative straightening devices at home, in public spaces, and within institutions such as healthcare in Bangladesh. The exploration of queer experiences provides new insights into context-specific ways in which sexual and gender diverse people understand themselves. Further research using the framework of straightening devices can help public health professionals to identify more ‘barriers’ confronted by sexual and gender diverse young people.

The Long-Term Impact of College Education on Women’s Attitudes Toward Marriage and Children

Social attitudes toward marriage and motherhood have shifted away from the traditional norms of universal marriage and childbearing. While the second demographic transition theory stresses the importance of education in bringing ideational changes behind low fertility and low marriage rates, a causal link between college education and attitudinal change has not been studied much. To fill this literature gap, this study demonstrates the enduring impact of college education on women’s family attitudes using South Korea’s policy shock, which offered people the opportunity to attend college in the 1980s. This study finds that college education in the 1980s encouraged women to have non-traditional attitudes toward marriage and motherhood. Women who attended college via the graduation quota program reported that marriage and giving birth at a young age were not necessary more than women without the opportunity. We constructed a composite index of family formulation which showed the same result.

"СЁОК-РОД - ЭТО НЕ ЗАБАВА" (ОБ ИЗМЕНЕНИИ РОДОВОЙ ИДЕНТИФИКАЦИИ АЛТАЙЦЕВ)

Based on the analysis of field materials collected in the Altai Republic, the problem of tribal custom observance is highlighted. The issue of violated custom of “aly-shpas”, the norms of exogamous marriage connected with the problem of inheritance of the seok-clan, is relevant. The consequences of observing the matchmaking relations between parties of the bride and groom, who should be of different seok, are highlighted. For the first time, there is material that presents reflection developed among the nation in cases when the exogamy of marriage is violated - the ideas about the transfer of “wrong genes” to the descendants of the daughter whose parents are of the same seok.

Obstacles to Exercising Reproductive Rights for Single Women in China and Legal Recommendations.

Reproductive rights represent an intrinsic and pivotal human entitlement, encompassing legal protection for procreation. Essential to this framework is the recognition that single women equally deserve reproductive rights. Although Chinese legislation refrains from overtly disallowing reproductive rights for single women, the interplay of conventional marriage norms and family planning policies has inadvertently tied these rights to marital status, consequently constraining single women's ability to assert them. The establishment of a robust legal structure to ensure reproductive rights for single women would profoundly contribute to advancing a harmonious evolution of China's population dynamics. We employ meticulous textual scrutiny to analyze comprehensively the stipulations concerning women's reproductive liberties within the framework of Chinese jurisprudence. Furthermore, we engage in empirical inquiry to enumerate and elucidate the multifarious constraints placed upon the reproductive freedoms of unmarried women in the Chinese context. This endeavor entails a detailed exposition and incisive examination of China's limitations imposed upon the reproductive rights of single women, encompassing both legal strictures and policy dimensions. The absence of legal endorsement and safeguarding has given rise to substantial impediments to the exercise of reproductive rights among single women in China. Not only do endeavors to assert reproductive rights on behalf of single women encounter intricate challenges in judicial implementation, but they also encounter manifold barriers within national policies. This predicament not only subjects single women to considerable psychological strain but also contradicts the overarching objective of achieving a harmonized population development trajectory in China. China should expedite the development of a legal framework for protecting reproductive rights that includes provisions for supporting single women to have children. This legal apparatus should efficaciously enshrine and shield the reproductive rights of single women, thus playing a pivotal role in advancing a more equitable and well-balanced trajectory of population development.

At the Crossroads of Marriage: Experiences of Young Urban Middle-Class Women Negotiating Family and Sexuality Within Heterosexual Intimate Relationships in North India

This paper critically examines the experiences of women in heterosexual intimate relationships. It aims to understand how women negotiate social structures of family, marriage choice, and community through intimate relationships. Young women are challenging gendered power relations, traditional family structures, and marriage norms in their everyday lives. By this, women challenge the old structures of patriarchy, caste system, and control of their sexuality. A qualitative research design using in-depth interviews with 12 working women in the age group of 25–30 years who were in intimate relationships was conducted. The study was based in Delhi and done over two months in 2019. Women were selected through snowball sampling. Narrative analysis has been used to evaluate women’s experiences in intimate relationships. The narratives show the struggles and negotiations that women do for love and how these struggles are becoming a way of challenging various structures like patriarchy, caste, class, and religion. Women choose their life partners or arrange for their love marriage. Still, the choice of the partner and the idea of marriage are influenced by the broader patriarchal, caste, and class structures. The women in this study have been able to move beyond the traditional norm of arranged marriage but have still not taken the leap of choice free of the broader institutions of caste, class, and family. The paper concludes by emphasising that although women choose their heterosexual partners for marriage, their choices are still influenced by their caste, class, and patriarchal structures.

Companions and Villains

This article examines boy characters in early twentieth-century girls’ scouting fiction. These series, marketed using the names of the recently established girls’ organizations, supported female empowerment. They also included important boy characters: brothers, companions, villains, and bullies. The first three types are exemplars of what boys’ workers envisioned as middle-class manhood: youthful wildness and spunk channeled into habits of hard work, self-reliance, and intelligence. These boys would also recognize girls as near-equal partners at a time when marriage norms were becoming more companionate. Rural bullies and ethnic villains, by contrast, provide warnings about boys who do not develop manly self-control. Girls’ series helped shape how modern girls thought about their male peers, including what girls would and would not accept in their relationships with boys.

Ithbāt Ṭalāq: An Offer of Legal Solutions to Illegal Divorce in Indonesia

The dispute between Islamic law and positive law is continuously ongoing regarding the practice of illegal divorce. This practice is valid in Islamic law as long as the conditions and pillars are fulfilled. However, in Islamic law, it is considered a violation of marriage norms. The urgency of this study lies in the discourse of ithbāt ṭalāq to bridge the rise of illegal divorce in society. Through a literature review with a juridical approach to finding a legal basis for a case in concreto, this article shows that ithbāt ṭalāq functions as an instrument that can solve disputes between Islamic law and positive law. Through this instrument, husbands who force divorce out of court can be considered criminal actors who must be given sanctions in the form of ta'zīr (fine).

Parents' intention toward early marriage of their adolescent girls in eastern Ethiopia: A community-based cross-sectional study from a social norms perspective.

BackgroundStrong social norms around early marriage put pressure on parents to marry off their adolescent girls at an early age. Early marriage is widely practiced in many parts of Ethiopia. However, early marriage studies rarely address the role of social norms. This study aims to examine the role of social norms on parents' intention to marry off adolescent girls early in Eastern Ethiopia.MethodA community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from September to November 2019. A multistage sampling procedure was applied to select the study participants. Factors related to parents' intention for early marriage were assessed through the lens of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Adjusted Prevalence Ratio (PR) was calculated using a log-binomial model to identify factors associated with intention toward early marriage.ResultsA total of 859 mothers and 859 fathers of unmarried girls were included in the study. The prevalence of intention to marry off their daughter early among mothers was 39.70% (95% CI = 36.4–43.0%) and 43.54% (95%CI = 40.2–47.1%) among fathers of adolescent girls [chi2(1) = 41.8; P < 0.001]. The intention for an early marriage was higher among mothers and fathers with favorable attitude towards early marriage, in those who believe that most people in their reference group conform to early marriage norms (empirical expectation), in those who believe that most people in their reference group expect them to conform to early marriage norms (normative expectation) and among fathers who did not know the legal age of marriage for adolescent girls and those who did not know the health consequences of early marriage. The prevalence of intention toward early marriage was lower among mothers (APR = 0.49; 95% CI: 0.36–0.65) and fathers (APR = 0.62; 95% CI: 0.49–0.78) in urban areas; and among mothers (APR = 0.41; 95% CI: 0.27–0.62) and fathers (APR = 0.50; 95% CI: 0.38–0.67) with higher educational level.ConclusionThe social norms that promote intention for early marriage are still high among parents, especially among those living in rural areas and uneducated. Hence, interventions that aim to reduce early marriage need to address locally relevant social norms.

What does Intermarriage Say about Immigrant Integration in Japan? The Maintenance of a National and Gender Hierarchy through Marriage Norms

Using 2010 Japanese census data, we critically interrogate the idea of integration through marriage in Japan. Intermarriage has been seen as a result of integration but the patterns of intermarriage and integration might depend on existing intersecting power structures in the receiving society. We explore assortative mating patterns in bi-national marriages in order to understand how citizenship status, race, gender, and educational level intersect and affect the patterns of intermarriage in Japan. We argue how ‘integration’ through bi-national marriage only perpetuates the structural hierarchy that premiers and maintain the status of the (male) native Japanese majority over Asian immigrants.

Love, Power, and Gender in Seventeenth-Century French Fairy Tales

Love, Power, and Gender in Seventeenth-Century French Fairy Tales

Widowhood revisited: Nature of landholding and women’s work in colonial agrarian Bengal

Despite major economic and political changes in the last two centuries, the incidence of underage marriage of girls as well as their widowhood is much higher in West Bengal than in any other parts of India. The incidence of widowhood was very high in Bengal among the major colonial provinces in the first half of the twentieth century. Many historians argue that marriage practices of the higher castes gradually percolated downwards, and many intermediary cultivating castes as well as lower castes started following the norms of child marriage and ban on widow remarriage as a means of attaining social respectability during the closing decades of the nineteenth and the early years of the twentieth century. This article tries to explore whether the very high incidence of widowhood in colonial Bengal in the first half of the twentieth century could also have been linked to the very nature of women’s labour force participation which in turn was largely determined by the nature of the agrarian economy.

Political Culture of Madurese Community in Marriage Law: from the Perspective of Utilitarianism and Structuration Theories and Maqasidi Interpretation

This research delves into marriage law of Madurese community seen from the purview of its culture and nature. The practice of such marriage contravenes the formal restrictions of the legislation concerning marriage as ruled by the state. Several facts show that some marriage norms were spoiled, sparking the popularity of sirri (unregistered) marriage which further leads to istbat nikah and underage marriage that triggers an exemption. This research employed a qualitative method by garnering information from the judges of a religious court, kiai (a respected and religious Javanese expert in Islam), and the members of the public. The primary data were collected from data on unregistered marriage and exemption in marriage. The data were reductively analyzed, discovering that, first, the political culture of the marriage in Madurese community is captured in a particular pattern: 1) political administration is a measure taken to manipulate the administrative process; 2) political prevention is defined as a legal objective (maslahah, avoiding the likelihood of sharia violations with the basis of hifdz an-nasb) which is a milestone of a legal politics referred to by people, 3) political family and political culture were shaped by the people’s view believing that securing familial relationships from breaking is far more important than what the legislation regulates, 4) political authority represents the presence of a kiai that works like a shield and an escape thoroughfare from the law of the state for the sake of the tradition; second, 1) from the aspect of utilitarianism, there is a point at which political culture of Madurese community and justice meet, 2) the structuration theory views political culture in Madurese community as inevitability, involving religious roles, public, and legal materials, and 3) within maqasidi scope, a law enforcement is seen as preventive (dar’u al-mafasid) as congruent with the aspect of lawmaking objective.

China\u2019s fertility change: an analysis with multiple measures

BackgroundThe period fertility in China has declined to very low levels, and the completed cohort fertility rate (CFR) has also decreased significantly. However, the exact fertility rate remains controversial. While the tempo effect has played a significant role in China’s period fertility decline, child underreporting has to be taken into consideration in China’s fertility research.MethodsBy using the census data from 1982 to 2010, and the 1% population sample survey data from 1995 to 2015, we systematically analyzed China’s fertility and its trends since the 1980s using period fertility measures, adjusted period fertility measures, cohort fertility measures, and indirect estimation methods.ResultsThe results show that marriage postponement significantly affects the TFR decline. Even after eliminating the tempo and parity structure effect, the adjusted TFR has fallen below 1.5, and the first-order fertility rate dropped to 0.9 in 2015. The CFR for women aged 45–49 declined from 5.37 in 1982 to 1.62 in 2015 mainly because of a decrease in fourth and higher-order births from 1982 to 1990, a decrease in second and third births from 1990 to 2000, and a decrease in second births from 2000 to 2015. Indirect estimation methods yielded a TFR in the range of 1.5–1.6 for the period 2000–2010 and an average TFR of 1.49 for the period 2011–2020.ConclusionsThe traditional norm of universal marriage and childbearing for Chinese women is changing. China’s fertility has been steadily declining, as measured by both period and cohort indicators. Following the historical change, fertility may continue to decline even after introducing the universal three-child policy in China in 2021.

Negotiating Commitment: White Marriage in Iran

Iranians describe unmarried, cohabitating couples as living in a ‘white marriage’. The growing number of white marriages in Iran has provoked official media condemnation and increasing public discussion about commitment. In this article I examine the meaning of commitment and commitment-making processes among middle-class women and men in pre-marital and self-regulated white marriages. I argue that their conceptualization of commitment in white marriage is heterogeneous, fluid, and mutually agreed upon, rooted in a resistance to expectations of their relationship based on old norms of marriage. Moreover, I note how their idea of commitment in white marriages evolves over time. I also examine white-marriage commitment during life challenges, such as a financial crisis or illness. My investigation, based on sixteen interviews, shows that beyond the binary of traditional or modern in third space, most couples in white marriage believe in negotiating agreed-upon commitment in an egalitarian way, whereas in practice they reproduce gendered norms, while offering each other mutual support during life crises.

Archive: The Brief Career of "Betty Broadface," Defender of "Old Maids"

What can be deduced from the suturing of two lines from a poem that ran in the September 1794 issue of the Massachusetts Magazine into a poem that ap- peared over three years later in the March 1798 issue of the Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advertiser, a Bostonian newspaper? The earlier poem was pub- lished anonymously, the later under the pseudonym of Betty Broadface. Both de- fend a woman's right to remain single, "to die an old maid." Differences between the poem texts and publication histories reflect the intensity of the debate about marriage norms, the interactive nature of poetry writing, and the circulation of poems between early national publishing centers in the 1790s.

Men in Mixed-Orientation Marriages in Contemporary China: Unpacking the Role of Heteronormativity and Patriarchy

This qualitative study based on 34 in-depth interviews (IDIs) with cis-gendered tongzhi (men who are attracted to men) critically explores the factors influencing their decisions to enter mixed-orientation marriages (MOMs) in China. Theoretically, the study weaves together insights from queer and feminist theorizing and analyzes the role of heteronormativity and patriarchy, especially in relation to hegemonic masculine ideals, in the context of marriage norms in contemporary China. Our examination showcases the contradictory role heteronormativity and patriarchy play in simultaneously marginalizing and privileging these groups of men along the axes of sexual, gender, and lineage (inter-generational) hierarchies. It also underscores the continued role of filial piety norms. Overall, the study contributes to deepening our understanding of the complex nature of MOMs and discussions of MOMs as marriage fraud. We argue that examining these non-normative marriages furthers explication of the social structures underpinning gender and sexuality in a context of patriarchal marriage-normative societies.

Трансформация обычно-правовой системы русского крестьянства в современной культуре русского населения

The aim of the study is to determine the role of the customary law of the Russian peasantry in the late XIX - early XX century in the formation of norms of marriage and family behaviour of the modern Russian population. As a result, it is shown that the norms of customary law that governed family and marriage relations of the Russian peasantry in the late XIX - early XX century have undergone a significant transformation in the everyday realias of the modern Russian population. Some of the traditional peasant views have gone through the path of wave-like changes, some have ensured complete continuity for themselves, and some have been replaced by a system of opposite norms.