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Alternative Relationship Forms

Alternative Relationship Forms. Reeshma Haji October 10, 2007. Outline. Singlehood Same-Sex Marriages Break Cohabitation Interethnic & Interfaith Relationships. Singlehood. Discussion: Stereotypes of single men and single women New York Times Article: Americans Love Marriage. But Why?

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Alternative Relationship Forms

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  1. Alternative Relationship Forms Reeshma Haji October 10, 2007

  2. Outline • Singlehood • Same-Sex Marriages • Break • Cohabitation • Interethnic & Interfaith Relationships

  3. Singlehood • Discussion: Stereotypes of single men and single women • New York Times Article: Americans Love Marriage. But Why? • By John Cloud (February 8, 2007)

  4. Singlehood • Singlehood and life satisfaction • Issue with broad definition of single • Problem: single = not married (vs. never married) • When divorcees and widows taken out of “singles”, little difference in life satisfaction • No benefit of unhappy relationships

  5. Singlehood • Importance of strong social networks • “We propose that people who are single – particularly women who have always been single- fare better than ideology would predict because they do have positive, enduring, and important interpersonal relationships” • (DePaulo & Morris, 2005, p. 57)

  6. Singlehood • Ideology of Marriage and Family • DePaulo & Morris (2005) • Glamorizes marriage and holds the sexual partnership as the only important peer relationship • Presumes superior worth of those with sexual partners • Assumes everyone wants to marry • Singlism • Thought experiment

  7. Singlehood • See www.belladepaulo.com for more info

  8. Childfree (Single?) Women • American women who choose to be childfree tend to be White, well-educated, and have non-traditional beliefs about gender roles • These women give high ratings of satisfaction with their choice, and do not differ from mothers in their reports of subjective well-being

  9. Single Mothers • Some women choose single motherhood, but many have become single mothers through divorce, abandonment or widowhood • More likely than other families to live in poverty • Forced choice between working to provide resources for children and spending time with them

  10. Same-Sex Marriage • Review of legal history • Netherlands (April, 2001) • Belgium (January, 2003) • Ontario, Canada (July, 2003) • MB, NS, QC, SK, NL, YT (2004) • MT, U.S.A. (2005) • NB, Canada (2005) • What happened in Massachusetts?

  11. Same-Sex Marriage • Why? (Herek, 2006) • Same-sex and heterosexual relationships have the same psychosocial dimensions (e.g., emotional attachment, satisfaction) • Parent’s sexual orientation is unrelated to providing a nurturing home • Marriage offers social, psychological, and health benefits

  12. Cohabitation • Cohabitation – living together without being legally married • Common law marriage – after a certain number of years, can be treated as legally married

  13. Cohabitation • Why is it increasing? • Increased acceptance of nonmarital sex • Higher education and presence in the workforce make marriage less necessary for women’s economic survival • Increased anonymity associated with living in large cities (fewer restrictions on behaviour) • Fear of marriage due to divorce stats

  14. Cohabitation • Discuss in small groups (10 mins) • Do many of your friends cohabit? What kinds of problems do they experience? What kinds of advantages to they report? • Who seems more committed to the cohabitation in heterosexual relationships (the man or the woman)? • Who benefits more from the cohabitation in heterosexual relationships (the man or the woman)?

  15. Cohabitation • Types • Short-lived sexual relationships (“flings”) • Practical (saving money) • Trial marriage • Permanent alternative to marriage • Fear of repeating “marriage mistake” (divorcees)

  16. Cohabitation • Canadian Data (Bourdais & Lapierre-Adamcyk, 2004) • Most prominent in QC, where often a basis for starting a family • Other Cdn provinces, “childless prelude to marriage” (p. 929)

  17. Cohabitation • Considerations for Couples Contemplating Living Together

  18. Nonmarital Births Lipps, 2005

  19. Interethnic Relationships • Heterogamy vs. Homogamy? • Interethnic daters seem to be similar in: • Age • Education • Attractiveness

  20. Interethnic Relationships • Influential factors • Social network diversity • Availability of ingroup mates • Own group status (minority vs. majority) • Education

  21. Interfaith Relationships • Canadian Census Data • 1 in 5 Cdn unions • Interfaith unions within same broad religious group more common (e.g., Catholics & Protestants)

  22. Promoting Acceptance of Intergroup Relationships • Discussion • Findings from interfaith dating research (Lalonde & Haji, 2006)

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