This study attempts to extend the existing literature about gratitude in the on-going relationship of married couples, and examined the dynamics thereof involved. N=100 dyads in Hong Kong were interviewed at three time points. T1 measures indicated that dispositional gratitude could predict not only the grateful mood one experienced in the past seven days but also the grateful mood one perceived from his/ her spouse. Both measures of grateful mood had similar actor and partner effects on the husbands' as well as wives' marital satisfaction. Between them, perceived mood of spouse was the stronger predictor, taking up virtually all the shared variance in explaining marital satisfaction. Longitudinal measures across the three time points showed that grateful mood of both spouses could be increased by about equal degrees via one of two interventions: having one of them keeping a private gratitude journal, or overtly expressing gratitude to the other. But the resulting changes in marital satisfaction differed for the actors (who assumed the role of beneficiaries) and their partners. Specifically, two moderators were identified: partners who judged their spouses' gratitude expressions as less sincere declined in their martial satisfaction, whereas, contrary to past research findings, actors who felt more obliged to their spouse became happier about their marriage. The results suggested involvement of different mechanisms for spouses on the two sides of the gratitude equation, and that feelings of obligation could be a protective factor in intimate relationships. The implications for research and counseling were discussed. / Leong, Lai Ting Joyce. / Adviser: Helene Fung. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 72-11, Section: B, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 71-81). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.

published_or_final_version / Comparative Asian Studies / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Sciences

本研究旨在探討準新人通過婚禮消費來實踐家庭和婚姻關係。通過研究準新人如何商議和安排婚禮樣式、相關的消費項目和財務安排，從而剖析新婚夫婦在婚禮籌備期間如何維持父母與子女的關係和建構未來的姻親和婚姻關係。本研究研究方法是民族誌，資料是從與三十三位新娘和二十一位新郎進行深入訪談並參與了他們的婚禮所獲得。 / 選購浪漫的、具風格的和舖張的婚禮的讓準新人展示品位，也表示準新人的結合是以自由戀愛為基礎的；但同時，婚禮也是結二姓之好的儀式，在中國傳統上公告新娘納入新郎的家族，這賦予準新人的父母參與婚禮形式和相關消費決策的過程。在此情況下，現代婚姻追求高獨立性與父母的期望為兩代關係帶來緊張和矛盾。另一方面，現代親子關係強調和諧融洽，對兩代透過商議婚禮消費來實踐帶來另一種挑戰，這些包括了兩層面：(1)親子和姻親關係；(2)維持婚姻的獨立性。 / 從探討準新人和其父母商議婚禮消費、財務安排和有關的分工，本研究得出以下發現：從家庭層面，基於道德倫理責任，準新人購買舖張婚宴以維持和建構兩代關係。同時，為突顯新婚夫婦的自主性，他們購買了不同的新興婚禮服務。而且，這些家庭關係和社會角色的定位也反映在兩代商討聛禮和嫁妝之上。 / 另外，從夫婦層面上，準新人透過選購具風格的婚禮物品和服務來體現二人結合為一個共同決策的消費單位，這個決策過程受雙方的性別態度和角色所影響；這些影響也反映夫婦的財務負擔和婚禮分工上。整體而言，儘管新婚夫婦在建構維持、婚姻、姻親和親子關係在婚禮籌備上有不同的矛盾，但在表面上皆能保持和諧的關係。 / This research studies how marrying couples do marital and family relationships through wedding consumption. By analyzing data obtained from an ethnographic study based on in-depth interviews and participant observations from a sample of 33 brides and 21 grooms, I analyze how marrying couples do marital and family relations, i.e. how they create, maintain and transform both familial and marital memberships and boundaries through the narration and reasoning of their wedding choice and relevant monetary practices. Even though public perception dictates that a wedding is owned by the couple to publicly display their independent coupledom in a romantic, stylistic and lavish ways, it is also an important family occasion that incorporates the bride into the groom’s family. These two contradictory conceptions of independent marriage and harmonious family relations put the couple and their parents into a dilemma in whether to define the wedding as jointly or solely owned by the couple. / I probed into the negotiation of lavish and stylistic weddings and the relevant money management and division of wedding labor to examine relationship making processes. The data shows that, on the family level: 1) the couple incorporates itself into the larger family network based on perceived moral obligations, the desire to maintain parent-child relationship and also to establish in-laws relationships, (e.g. through buying a lavish wedding banquet); 2) the couple also purchase various wedding consumption goods and services to differentiate the coupledom from the family network, (e.g. through wedding photography); 3) negotiation of new and existing family roles are also reflected through the couple’s negotiation of bride price and dowry with their parents. On the couple’s level, they work towards the creation of an independent coupledom a joint decision-making and consumption unit - through variously embracing and resisting stylistic consumption goods and services in the wedding market. Last but not least, the couple also negotiates the pattern of financial responsibility and division of labor based on gender ideology and “marriage ideal“. In general, couples mostly manage to create and maintain harmonious marital and family relationships despite undercurrents of tension. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Tso, Ho Yee Vienne. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 242-255). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese. / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Background of this Study --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- The Significance of Wedding Consumption --- p.2 / Chapter 1.3 --- Doing Weddings --- p.4 / Chapter 1.4 --- Outline of the Thesis --- p.6 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- The Social Relational Approach to Understand Wedding Consumption --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1 --- Introduction --- p.8 / Chapter 2.2 --- Rational Choice Theory of Consumption --- p.9 / Chapter 2.3 --- The Structural Relational Embedded Consumer Market --- p.12 / Chapter 2.4 --- Wedding Consumption --- p.18 / Chapter 2.5 --- The “We“ and the “Bigger We“ --- p.29 / Chapter 2.6 --- Chapter Summary --- p.43 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Research Methods --- p.45 / Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.45 / Chapter 3.2 --- Participation Observations --- p.46 / Chapter 3.3 --- Profile of Informants --- p.58 / Chapter 3.4 --- Types of In-depth Interviews --- p.63 / Chapter 3.5 --- Leaving the Field --- p.70 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- The Negotiation of Wedding Arrangement --- p.74 / Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.74 / Chapter 4.2 --- The Characteristics of the Respondents’ Weddings --- p.75 / Chapter 4.3 --- Between the “We“ and “Bigger We“: Demarcation of Wedding Ceremonies --- p.77 / Chapter 4.4 --- Organization of the Wedding Banquet --- p.89 / Chapter 4.5 --- Chapter Summary --- p.112 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Bride Price and Dowry --- p.116 / Chapter 5.1 --- Introduction --- p.116 / Chapter 5.2 --- The Wedding Expenditures --- p.118 / Chapter 5.3 --- The Practice of Bride Price and Dowry. --- p.124 / Chapter 5.4 --- Practicing the Idea of Filial Daughters --- p.132 / Chapter 5.5 --- Negotiation of Bride Price: the Traditional Route --- p.141 / Chapter 5.6 --- Negotiation of Bride Price: the Transitional Route --- p.150 / Chapter 5.7 --- Chapter Summary --- p.162 / Chapter Chapter 6 --- The Making of the Coupledom --- p.167 / Chapter 6.1 --- Introduction --- p.167 / Chapter 6.2 --- Building up the “We“ in the Wedding Market --- p.168 / Chapter 6.3 --- The Public Display of the “We“ --- p.179 / Chapter 6.4 --- The Making of the Ideal Wedding. --- p.188 / Chapter 6.5 --- Chapter Summary --- p.225 / Chapter Chapter 7 --- Conclusion --- p.229 / Chapter 7.1 --- Introduction --- p.229 / Chapter 7.2 --- Wedding Consumption --- p.229 / Chapter 7.3 --- The Formation of the Coupledom and Wider Family Network --- p.230 / Chapter 7.4 --- Implications for Future Research and Limitations --- p.236

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Li Wai-ki Viki. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 182-190). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgments --- p.iv / Note --- p.vii / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Historical Background / Structure of Thesis / Literature Review / Methodology / Problems Encountered / Do People Tell the Truth? / Fieldsite一Why Shenzhen? / Chapter Chapter 2 --- "The ""Superior"" Hong Kong Chinese" --- p.35 / Construction of Hong Kong Identity / Hong Kong People's Views of Mainlanders / Hong Kong People's Views of Cross-border Marriages / How Do Mainland Chinese View Themselves? / Hong Kong Identity Card as Symbolic Capital / Grading of Ethnicity / Conclusion / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Hong Kong Men --- p.64 / Who is More Inclined to Marry a Mainland Woman? / What are Hong Kong Men Looking for in a Wife? / Mainland Women vs. Hong Kong Women / Hong Kong Men's Attitude Toward Marriage / Hong Kong Men's Sense of Masculinity and Femininity / Power Relation between Husband and Wife / Yuhn Fahn Decides Who is Miss Right / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Mainland Women Who Seek Hong Kong Husbands --- p.96 / Who is More Inclined to Marry a Hong Kong Man? / What are Mainland Women Looking for in a Husband? / Mainland Women's Attitude toward Marriage / Hong Kong Men vs. Mainland Men / "Who are the Most Desirable Husbands, After All?" / Constructed Reality vs. Actual Reality / Conclusion / Chapter Chapter 5 --- When Hong Kong Men Meet Mainland Women --- p.125 / The Trip to Zhanjiang / The Magazine Version / Conclusion / Chapter Chapter 6 --- Conclusion --- p.157 / Relationship between Hong Kong People and Mainland Migrants / Possible Trends in Marriage Patterns / Appendices --- p.175 / Bibliography --- p.182

近年來國際文獻日益意識到移民與虐妻之間的關係。有鑑於此，本文嘗試以十一位中港跨境婚姻中受虐移民婦女的個案，透過分析其深入訪談資料，以交織性探索的理論框架探討發生於這種婚姻關係中對移民婦女的親密伴侶暴力行為。研究結果顯示這類暴力行為由遷移、性別、階級及文化等社會體系互相交織而造成，致使受虐移民婦女於法律、經濟、社交及文化等各個層面受到多重制肘，令她們不得不固守於暴力關係之中。此外，本研究展示了遷移如何與移民婦女的階級不利位置、婚姻中的性別不平等及傳統中國文化對於婚姻與家庭的規範互相影響，從而增加她們受虐的風險和削弱其處理暴力的能力。由於虐妻對不同社會背景的女性所帶來的影響不盡相同，社會工作者、政策制定者以及研究人員必須理解各個社會體系如何互為交織並引致暴力行為，以有效照顧及協助移民婦女的需要。最後，本論文對現有相關政策作出建議，以期為移民婦女提供適切有效的預防及介入，從而減低她們受虐的風險。 / With the increasing recognition of the linkage between wife abuse and migration in the literature, this study examines violence against female marriage migrants in the context of Mainland-Hong Kong cross-border marriages under an intersectional framework. Using 11 in-depth interviews with battered marriage migrants from Mainland China, findings of this study revealed that abuses against immigrant women perpetrated by their intimate partners was a result of the intersections between migration, gender, class, and culture, which rendered immigrant women legally, economically, socially, and culturally trapped in the abusive marriages. This study demonstrates how migration increased marriage migrants’ vulnerability to violence and jeopardized their ability to manage violence through interacting with their class disadvantages, gender inequalities within their marriages, and their traditional cultural norms about marriage and family. As wife abuse does not have a uniform impact on all women, practitioners, policy makers, and researchers must be cognizant of the intersectional nature of violence and ensure that marriage migrants’ needs are appropriately catered for when tackling violence against the immigrant population. Policy implications and recommendations which address the urgent needs of providing appropriate and effective intervention for immigrant women are discussed at last. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Chiu, Tuen Yi. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 41-48). / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 2 --- Literature review --- p.5 / Chapter 3 --- Research site --- p.9 / Chapter 4 --- Research method --- p.13 / Chapter 5 --- Results --- p.14 / Chapter 5.1 --- Immigration and Wife Abuse --- p.14 / Chapter 5.2 --- Immigration, Gender inequalities, and Wife Abuse --- p.18 / Chapter 5.3 --- Immigration, Economic Marginalization, and Wife Abuse --- p.21 / Chapter 5.4 --- Immigration, Culture, and Wife Abuse --- p.24 / Chapter 6 --- Discussion and recommendations --- p.28 / Chapter 7 --- References --- p.41