The work deals with philosophical and theological consideration of marriage as the natural institution. It comes out of the implied hypothesis of inherent ideals of love, failthfullness and inseparability, whose fulfillment man often searches in marriage. The theoretical part describes marriage and family from the point of view of the Christian ethics. It characterizes the sacramental and the non-sacramental marriages, looks for common ideas and points out their differences. It touches also the problems of contemporary families e.g. abortion, fertility and divorce rate. The practical part includes the results of the survey among the present-day young people about their ideals of Christian marriage. Then it analyses the birth registry entries for the period of 1993{--}1998 in Pelhřimov and its surroundings and compares the church marriages to the civil ones from the point of view of their divorce rate and the number of the children born in these marriages. The conclusion of the work evaluates the results of the practical part, compares it with the countrywide surveys and answers the introductory question of this work: if is possible to live the ideal of Nasareth family.

This thesis seeks to shed light on the cultural construction of marriage and the relative psychosocial predictors of marital satisfaction across British and Ghanaian settings. The main argument is that, Britain and Ghana stand apart in socio-cultural standing: Britain is a developed Western European country whereas Ghana is a developing West African Country. Consequently local realities and social constructions would differ across these two settings and engender different constructions and experience of marriage. The project examined the relative contributions of self-construal, self-disclosure, material support, relationship beliefs, marriage role expectation and demographic variables to marital satisfaction among British and Ghanaian married couples. These objectives were pursued through the implementation of quantitative (n=400) and qualitative (n=117) paradigms in studies of couples from London and Accra. Various multivariate analytic strategies were employed to test hypotheses about differential constructions of marriage and the predictors of marital satisfaction across the two contexts. As hypothesized, responses of British couples suggested constructions of marriage that resonate with individualist patterns (e.g., less emphasis on "traditional" marital roles), and responses of Ghanaian couples suggested constructions of marriage that resonate with collectivist patterns (e.g., relative emphasis on instrumental support). Additional analyses revealed the hypothesized role of cultural grounding indicators in mediating the relationship between predictors and marital satisfaction. Specifically, interdependent self-construal mediated the relationship between material support and satisfaction, but independent self-construal mediated the relationship between self-disclosure and marital satisfaction. Qualitative analyses of the interview data aid in the interpretation of these results. The expected and counterintuitive findings that emerged are discussed against the backdrop of individualism-collectivism descriptions of prevalent cultural patterns that implicitly and explicitly shape and determine personal relationship behaviour. Implications of the findings as well as recommendations for future studies of marriage across cultural settings are offered.

This research explored positive paternal involvement in the lives of children within the broader familial context of marital dynamics and positive maternal involvement. The National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) was used to obtain a longitudinal subsample of 582 first-married couples, as well as the wide range of variables necessary to explore this broader context of paternal influence. Three research questions guided the study: (I) What is the unique contribution of positive paternal involvement-with respect to positive maternal involvement and marital quality- in child ren's development? (2) How does the influence of positive paternal involvement interact with the influence of positive maternal involvement and marital quality to influence children 's development? (3) To what degree do fathers indirectly influence their children via the marital relationship and the mother-child relationship? Analysis demonstrated little evidence of fathers ' unique contribution to children 's aggressive/anti social behavior, school problems, and other outcomes. Similarly, analysis demonstrated no indirect effects for paternal involvement across the 4-5 years span between Wave I and Wave 2 of the NSFH. Specifically, fathers' involvement did not indirectly affect children 's outcomes via either the marital relationship or maternal involvement. However, limitations relating to internal reliability rendered findings questionable. Analysis also demonstrated a limited pattern of interaction effects between paternal involvement measures and marital and maternal variables. Specificall y, Wave 2 patern al positive activities demonstrated meaningful interactions with maternal positi ve activities, marital happiness, and marital conflict, with respect to their influence on children's aggressive/anti social behavior. in teraction between patern al positi ve acti vit ies and marital variables indicated th at patern al involvement is capable of interacting wi th other aspects of fam ily context in ways which have both pos itive and negative consequences for children. Future research efforts addressing these questions should assess parental involvement in greater depth and breath, incorporating a framework capable of addressing both parental warmth and control. Similarly, future research should consider methods capable of addressing multicolinearity resulting from parallel paternal and maternal variables. Finally, future research should explore the various ways in which paternal involvement interacts with other sources of influence within families to impact the lives of children.

I conducted this study to determine if African American men and women who marry white men and women in East Tennessee perceive experiences of isolation and alienation from their families and friends as a result of their selection of a mate from a race other than the one into which they were born. I interviewed ten individuals who are or have been interracially married. As a result of my research, I found that my results compare favorably with those of scholarly studies that discovered alienation and isolation among interracial couples. I used descriptive research methods to analyze a segment of the Appalachian population, with literature reviews of related material and in-depth interviews conducted with subjects in the East Tennessee area. My study allowed the subjects to discuss their perceptions and feelings of being a part of this growing interracial population in East Tennessee.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to compare couples in different phases of marriage with the primary goal of contributing to our understanding of marital quality throughout the life span. Rusbult's investment theory (Rusbult, 1980, 1983; Rusbult & Buunk, 1993), which predicts specific outcomes concerning relationship satisfaction, commitment, and stability, served as the guiding theory behind this effort. Assumptions derived from the theory were tested with couples in three distinct phases of marriage selected from the first wave of the National Survey of Families and Households (Sweet, Bumpass, & Call, 1988). Short-term couples consisted of husbands and wives married between 4 and 6 years, intermediate couples consisted of those married between 20 and 25 years, and long-term couples consisted of those married 45 years or more. Couples were compared with regard to four specific aspects of their relationships: conflict frequency, conflict resolution, satisfaction, and perceptions of the quality of alternatives to their current marriages. Data generated from spouses' averaged scores were analyzed using a series of one-way ANOVAs and paired t-tests. Results from this sample of respondents clearly revealed that long-term couples engaged in less conflict, utilized different conflict resolution strategies, were more satisfied with their marriages, and perceived alternatives to their relationships as less favorable than younger couples. In addition, when husbands' and wives' scores on the above measures were compared, long-term couples exhibited fewer differences than younger couples. Findings from this study are discussed in light of existing research and theory. / Ph. D.

Based on field research among Czechs living abroad, the diploma thesis introduces the offsprings of the Czech 18th -century exile, members of the Evangelical Reformed Church in Poland, is. While the community decreased due to massive re-emigration after the Second World War, at first it remained endogamous. Eventually though, interfaith marriages with Polish Catholics increased and language usage shifted. However, offsprings of Czechs from Zelów who stayed true to the reformed faith still maintain and pass on their faith which is the main part of their identity even nowadays. Furthermore, some of them still adhere to their Czech origins. They established the Association of Czechs in Poland in 2010 and then the Czech Club in Zelów. This study refers to how members of the Evangelical Reformed congregation in Zelów see their own identity and the existence of mixed marriages within the community of the congregation.

No description available.

This thesis focuses on Albanian-Italian and Albanian-Romanian couples in Italy. Through application of the boundary-making framework to integration and intermarriage, this study looks at the processes by which partners in mixed unions deal with socially constructed boundaries inside and outside the couple and family sphere. The thesis is based on multiple qualitative methods, but primarily on in-depth interviews with 61 Albanian-Italian/Romanian couples in Italy. These research-participant couples differ in terms of marital and family status, place of origin and settlement, education and occupation. The core sample is composed of an Albanian in-between generation, now in their 30s, who emigrated during adolescence for various reasons (asylum, family reunification, healthcare, study, work). Thence, I moved towards an Italian or a Romanian partner of these primary participants. The original contribution of my study is both empirical and theoretical. From an empirical point of view, it explores the topic of intermarriage, which has not been previously examined in the existing literatures on the Albanian and Romanian migrations and is still understudied in Italy. In addition to this, the study specifically takes into account the combination of minority-majority (Albanian-Italian) and minority-minority (Albanian-Romanian) partnerships and marriages, whose conjoint analysis has been largely absent in intermarriage research. From a theoretical point of view, my research shows instead the importance of adopting a relational approach in migration studies through the inclusion of a plurality of social actors within the research design. In fact, while intermarriage in immigrant societies is usually interpreted as an indicator/agent of integration and through the essentialisation of the category of culture, my thesis proposes a novel understanding of intermarriage. I view intermarriage as a site of integration, and I see integration as a multi-way process of boundary change, which involves the national majority as well as multiple immigrant minorities interacting with and identifying each other in the construction of a common social space.

<p>Uppsatsen handlar om arrangerade äktenskap och kärleksäktenskap i storstadsmiljö i dagens Turkiet. Den belyser främst hur ett äktenskapsarrangemang går till och huruvida inflyttningen från landsbygd till städer har påverkat dem. Jag använder mig av ett inifrånperspektiv genom att intervjua turkiska kvinnor men gör även kopplingar till artiklar som belyser just moderniseringens effekter på äktenskapsformer.</p> / <p>This essay is about marriages in an urban setting in contemporary Turkey. It exemplifies how a marriage arrangement is done and whether the migration into cities from the country has influenced them. I will mainly give an insider perspective by interviewing Turkish women but the essay also relates to articles about modernization’s effects on marriage forms.</p>