Thesis (M.A.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2004. / Bibliography: leaves 132-133.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Western Seminary, Portland, OR, 2009. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-83).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2002. / Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 170-178).

The aim of the study was to determine the influence/effect of discourses on love and marriage in the lives of people from their childhood uptil this day. Twelve people participated in the study. These participants were defined as being "white, Afrikaans speaking, married couples between 30 and 50 years of age, with or without children and belonging to a church in the RSA of the Reformed tradition". The study sought to discover how people respond to dominent and marginalised discourses on love and marriage and how they portray this in their marital relationship. A further objective was to reflect on some modernistic descriptions of discourses on love and marriage and the deconstruction thereof. Factors such as the marital relationship of the parents, peer groups, church dogma and theological interpretation, sex education at the time they grew up, culture, customs, etc. were related by each participant and contextualised within each life story. Interviews were conducted with each participant / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Th. (Pastoral Therapy)

The process of individualization is increasingly permeating all levels of Chinese society. This research attempts to highlight some aspects on how Chinese individualization is emerging in marriage and the family through the prism of China’s emerging “asexual marriage” – a consensual partnership that has no sex or a limited amount of sex. Collecting qualitative data in different ways, this study first examines the less obvious and less studied effects of China’s sexual revolution as part of the individualization process brought to the asexual individuals on a specific matchmaking website WX920. One can see that these individuals undergo great suffering and are under pressure to find a partner in light of the sexual imperative in the couple relationship. My study also focuses on the idealized view of asexual marriage currently promoted by the rhetoric of affection. What is particularly striking is that the same ideal is perceived as equally worthy of a relationship in a proforma marriage with a homosexually inclined person, when one cannot meet an asexual partner. In addition, this study suggests the reintegration of individuals into a new type of collectivity – the family, which is primarily structured as a unit of emotional importance to the individual’s marital decision. Nevertheless, the other side of family connection constitutes a crucial dilemma for some non-conformist individuals, who are confronted with a dual demand for satisfying personal aspirations and family expectations. Drawing on the concept of “negotiated familism”, this study reveals how these individuals are by no means passive recipients and they actively engage in negotiation about their ideal of personal life through a marriage in form only. Finally, I will engage a discussion on individualizing trends by exploring asexual people’s reorganization of conventional norms of marriage and other expectations such as reproduction is given.

M.A. / In this dissertation I aim to establish how Ovid uses the Rape of the Sabine Women, part of the foundation myth of Rome, in the Ars Amatoria I: 101-134 to maintain or restructure male-female relationships within Roman patriarchal society. Furthermore, Ovid's legacy in the Middle Ages and our modem society is briefly looked at. This myth tells that Romulus and his men had a shortage of women in their city as they were not considered suitable husbands by the men of the surrounding tribes. In response to the ridicule of their neighbours, Romulus held a celebration of the Consualia at which he and his men seized the Sabine maidens, who would later become their wives. A semiotic approach is used to understand how Ovid viewed existing male-female relationships and to what end he would like to restructure them. Ovid understood the strength of this myth and retold it in order to persuade his audience of his argument. In these lines Ovid explained to the student-lover how and why to meet a woman at the Theatre. Through the comparison of the ancient and the contemporary, his use of certain words and figures of speech, Ovid attempted to convince his audience of the effectiveness of the art of love he promoted: a contract of agreement between two willing partners created by persuasion rather than force. He displayed an amazing understanding of the human psyche, as well as the violent, angry nature of rape. Ovid's novel approach has affected authors of the Middle Ages, among them Geoffrey Chaucer, artists of the 'heroic rape' genre and can even be discussed in relation to modem rape myths and the modern concept of equity between the sexes introduced in the Ars already. His style and subject matter has caused the analysis of his work to be highly debated among many modem scholars. It is my conclusion that Ovid wrote the Ars Amatoria with the intention of restructuring male-female relationships in Roman society, promoting a movement away from violence and unfulfilling relationships, typical of the Roman marriage tradition. His work was so far reaching that he did not only create a stir among his contemporaries, but instead he influenced the development of the male-female relationship and interaction over centuries.

Research shows that the initial honeymoon phase of a marriage dissolves after some time and differences between the couple begin to hamper the harmony in the relationship. One of these differences is that attributed to gender. This study attempts to study these phases of the relationship. It approaches this issue from an inductive standpoint to counterbalance the deductive quality that pervades most literature in this field. A mixed qualitative and quantitative design was selected in a multiple case study format. An open style interview preceded and followed a Q-sorting exercise. Ten individuals (five couples) who have been married between five and ten years were studied. For several reasons, including the need to widen the cultural base of the research field, the study was conducted in Malta, a Mediterranean culture. The information provided by each participant (called coresearcher here to indicate the empowerment accorded to them in the research), was organized by re-casting it into a narrative form. The accuracy of the narrative was additionally validated by the respective co-researcher and an independent reviewer. The purpose was to construct individual and common stories of the marriage f r om the perspective of difference and harmony. Comparisons between individuals and gender revealed common factors, indicating the generic path of these relationships, and individual factors based on previous history, personality, gender and culture Individual life thanes, the dialectic pattern of relating, and phases i n the relationships were identified. Finally, the results were compared to previous research on love, relational development, gender differences, and attachment. The model of the dialectic was found to be a useful tool for understanding relationships and integrating research. Finally, the implications of this study on counselling, and possibilities for further research were discussed. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this preliminary and exploratory research project was to identify possible links between insecure male attachment patterns and wife assault. Attachment theory suggests that the quality of early interpersonal relationships has a profound effect on the psychological, emotional and social development of the individual. Insecure attachment has been found to be associated with a number of relationship problems and these interpersonal problems have also been identified with men who assault their wives. Based on this similarity, the insecure attachment paradigm may offer a useful theoretical orientation for understanding the conflict behaviours of men who assault their wives. The sample of fifty adult men who had assaulted their female partners was drawn from two therapy groups. In this preliminary and exploratory study, a number of measures were used to assess each man's mental representation of childhood attachment and his adult intimate attachment patterns, intimate conflict tactics and interpersonal jealousy and anger problems. The associations between insecure preoccupied, dismissing, and fearful attachment pattern ratings and male conflict tactic and relationship problems were then analyzed. The findings indicated that men who assault their wives had a high proportion of insecure adult intimate attachment patterns. These assaultive men were also found to be predominantly insecure in both their mental representations of childhood attachment and adult intimate attachment pattern ratings, with the greatest continuity occurring with the insecure preoccupied and fearful pattern ratings. Three patterns of relationship problems corresponding to the three insecure adult intimate attachment pattern rating were found. Preoccupied attachment pattern ratings were positively correlated with interpersonal jealousy scores and the reported use of the reasoning, verbal/symbolic abuse, physical abuse and severe physical abuse conflict tactics. Dismissing attachment pattern ratings were positively correlated with interpersonal anger scores and negatively correlated with the reasoning, verbal, physical and severe physical abuse conflict tactics. Fearful attachment pattern ratings were similar to the dismissing pattern in the positive correlation with interpersonal anger scores. The importance of considering insecure adult intimate attachment pattern ratings when providing group therapy to men who assault their wives was considered. Men with high insecure dismissing adult intimate attachment pattern ratings seem to require a distinctly different therapeutic approach than those with high insecure preoccupied adult intimate attachment pattern ratings and ideas in this regard are discussed. / Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies / Graduate

This dissertation addresses an ignored [partly for its controversial nature] aspect of Nietzschean philosophy: that of the role of modern woman in the creation of a future horizon. Details of the effects of the Enlightenment, Christianity and democracy upon society are discussed, as well as effects on the individual, particularly woman. After this forward look at the changes anticipated by Nietzsche, the traditional roles of woman as the eternal feminine, wife and mother are debated. An argument for the necessity of a continuation of the battle of the sexes, and the struggle among men and women in a context of sexual love and friendship is given. This mutual affirmation must occur through the motivation of pride and not vanity. In conclusion, I argue that one possible avenue for change is a Nietzschean call for a modern revaluation of values by noble woman in conjugation with her warrior scholar to bring about the elevation of mankind.

The goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between adult attachment style, humility, and relationship satisfaction in college student couples. Attachment style--given its significant role in predicting how individuals feel, think, and behave in relationships--was expected to be an important predictor of humility, although this possibility has rarely been studied empirically. The current study found that: (a) attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance were significant, negative predictors of total humility, (b) attachment anxiety (but not attachment avoidance) was a significant, negative predictor of both intrapersonal and interpersonal humility, (c) a romantic partner's attachment avoidance (but not attachment anxiety) was a significant, negative predictor of a target person's relationship satisfaction, and (d) a romantic partner's perceived level of humility was a significant, positive predictor of a target person's relationship satisfaction.