Chapter 5 Flashcards
why do we marry?
- can be understood from rational choice perspective
- exogenous payoff
- commitment device
- signalling device
- others include: religion, emotional security, companionship, to start a family, economic security, family pressure, rebound, etc.
exogenous payoff
marriage serves as a rite of passage into adulthood and social approval of the couple
commitment device
marriage promotes relationship-specific investments (ex. purchasing a home or having children)
signalling device
public statement of your love for your partner
conjugal
refers to the dyad (2-person couple)
marriage rates
- rate of married couples is decreasing while rate of cohabiting couples is increasing
- of 60% of Canadians in conjugal unions, 80% of them are married (vs. common-law)
- marriage rate can be measured in 2 ways: crude marriage rate, general marriage rate
crude marriage rate
number of marriages for every 1000 people in a given year
general marriage rate
number of people in a population eligible for marriage, restricting the denominator to unmarried women 15 and older
total first marriage rate
percentage of people who can expect to marry before age 50
age at marriage
- age at marriage is increasing (31 and 29 for men and women respectively vs. 25 and 23 in the 1970’s)
- same-sex couples tend to marry at older ages (ie. in early forties)
age homogamy
we tend to marry someone who is close to us in age
marriage squeeze
- mid-life and older women are commonly squeezed out of opportunities to marry
- men marry younger women, therefore number of eligibles in women’s age group decreases; women also live longer
defining marriage
- traditionally, marriage was defined as “the voluntary union for life of one man to one woman to the exclusion of all others” -> implies lifelong, heterosexual, monogamous commitment
- in 2005, Civil Marriage Act legalized same-sex marriage across Canada
LAT Marriages
- “living apart together” marriages
- married individuals live in separate homes, usually due to career advancement of one or both spouses that forces them to live apart
tasks in the transition to marriage
- marital identity
- marital boundaries
- household management
- emotional climate
marital identity
what kind of couple you’re going to be - how you’re going to present yourself
marital boundaries
how much time should you spend apart? Together? How much time with friends and family? etc.
household management
managing finances and division of household labour
emotional climate
conflict resolution, sexual scripts, emotional support
marriage and health
- marriage is good for health
- linked to decreased mortality, increased cardiovascular health, increased immune system functioning, increased psychological health
selection hypothesis (relates to marriage and health)
it’s not marriage that makes you healthy - healthier people tend to marry each other, and the unhealthy people have a harder time finding and keeping a mate
assortative mating principle
- people pair with individuals much like themselves and search for the best possible match they can get in exchange for the resources they have to offer
- healthy people have better attributes, so they marry each other and squeeze unhealthy people out of marriage
- thus, marriage doesn’t cause better health (but this hypothesis has limited support)
protection hypothesis
- marriage provides social and economic supports linked to improved health
- improves physical health by improving emotional health
- reduces risk-taking behaviour
- helps in early detection of illness
social support hypothesis
- marriage provides opportunities for social engagement and companionship and that having increased social network improves health
- relationships change our moods and influence our health habits
- provide financial security
gender differences in protection hypothesis
- marriage better for men’s health than women’s
- women already have large networks for emotional support before marriage, whereas men don’t -> marriage increases this network substantially for men
- men decrease risk-taking behaviours when married, whereas women actually drink more when married
stress buffering hypothesis
- social support decreases consequences of stress
- protection hypothesis works only if the marriage is good