Long been proven that people who are married, as a rule, have a greater life expectancy and better health than singles. However, today's young (and not-so-young! ) not in a hurry to marry and to marry. Maybe marriage is something long obsolete? And can a modern man he just don't need? From the history of marriage
American historian Stephanie Kunz argues that over the past 50 years the institution of marriage has changed much faster than the last few thousand years. By the way, marriage as the Union, providing a sense of mutual love and respect between two people, is, in his opinion, a relative novelty for humanity. But how did it all start?
The evolution of the institution of marriage recognized by virtually all historians. Most ancient civilizations needed a reliable system of procreation, creation of the mechanism of transfer of ownership, which made possible the concept of marriage. Available on present day historical data confirm that the institution of marriage appeared more than 4 thousand years ago.
Most anthropologists suggest that several millennia before this family consisted of loosely organized groups of several dozen people - a small number of men, many more "common" women and children. Presumably, stable marital relationships in communities of primitive people were rare. However, with the development of society, people began to need more stable the structure of the relationship between men and women. The first documentary evidence of the conduct marriage ceremonies between one man and one woman noted in Mesopotamia, about 2450 BC (in Ancient Egypt around 2400 BC supposedly was same-sex marriage).
Marriage has turned into a widespread institution, it has become a legitimate way of creating economic alliances. Moreover, marriage was allowed to "tie" the woman to the man and thus to ensure that the children are the biological heirs of the husband. Getting married, the woman became the property of her husband, who was free to return it back to the parents and to re-marry, if that could not bear him heirs. The ancient Jews were allowed to have several wives, and the Greeks and Romans were free to satisfy their passions with courtesans.
With the spread of Christianity has become particularly important religious character of marriage - marriage was a necessary blessing of the priest. According to Peter Gomes, a specialist in the field of Christian morality, however, does not interfere with the range of circumstances to register the marriage and in the absence of a priest later this right, were officially vested in the governors of the colonies and the captains of the ships. In 1563 the Catholic Church transformed position on the sanctity of marriage in Canon law, ruling that the marriage was recognized as legitimate only if he was a priest in the presence of witnesses. Men were required to show more respect for their wives. Divorces were banned.
Christian doctrine preached that the pair consists of one flesh, which gave the husband and wife equal rights in matters of sex and, in principle, rejected the unwritten right man for extramarital Affairs. However, with all this, the Church confirmed the dominant role of men in the family.
Love, as a Central factor for marriage, has gained importance only in the Middle ages, before the marriage was made mainly to meet practical purposes. Marilyn Yalom, a historian from Stanford University, argues that the concept of chivalry "romantic love" was the reason that along with the love women have gained more freedom in other areas of life. The man wanted to serve his beloved, as a result, the woman has lost the status of a servant. However, the woman actually remained the property belonging to the man.
In the seventeenth century in Western Europe, the superiority of the husband confirmed officially. After marriage a woman fully absorbed the personality of her husband. Wife not only refused from its former name, but also lost all their property rights upon marriage. This concept has been adopted in almost all Christian countries of Europe and played the role of a legal framework for the regulation of marital relations. With settlers this ideology came to the New world. As a result, if, for example, an American woman married to a foreigner, she lost her citizenship because fell under the "shell" of the personality of man.
When women, as a result of long struggle, received the electoral law, the institution of marriage began to rapidly mutate. In fact, the woman returned to the right person. And in 1960, the United States also withdrew the legislation, which prohibited interracial marriages, the conclusion of which was previously considered a crime and punishable by imprisonment.
The family of the XXI century
Since the middle of XX century globally is nothing in the marriage laws have not changed, but the changes have been huge!
Let's start with the fact that every year, according to statistics, people in civilized countries relate to each other by bonds of hymen all later. For example, the journal American Sociological Review provides the following data: in 1960, the average resident of the U.S. was first married at the age of 20 years, and the man is 23 years, in 2005 "the family" age increased to 25, 8 years for women and 27, 4 years for men. In Europe, the age of first marriage even more, and most importantly, that every year it is increasing.
How much for the modern man families are important? At first glance the impression that a career, money and other valuables of the modern world pushed her into the background. However, data from public opinion surveys tell a different story! For example, a poll conducted by Gallup showed that 96% of people family "important" or "very important". In second place - health (90%), and third (73%). And a Pew research Center study showed that 72% of married people are "very satisfied" with the quality of family life - for comparison, the income level fully meets only 32% of respondents, the standards of life is 42%, and housing - 63%.
What moral values put at the forefront of people from various countries have found recently and marketing company GfK NOP. The surveys were conducted in Russia, Spain, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand and the Czech Republic. This is not surprising, but the residents of these countries have chosen the following values: 1. family, 2. health, 3. honesty, 4. self-esteem and 5. justice. But the Americans first raised the honesty. The same family has occupied the second position (splitting it with freedom).
Makes a marriage happier? Of course, Yes! Talking about it is absolutely without exception, all studies on this topic. A study at Cornell University showed that family people are the happiest. The "quality" of marriage has no meaning. In any case, the spouses benefit from a sense of stability in his life, the constant presence of a loved one and of higher social status. Psychological tests have shown that more highly of his life, family people, followed by people with long-term love affair, followed by men and women who periodically experience novels. Least happy loners.
According to the research center at the Heritage Foundation, 74% of people are married because the family gives them much love, support, friendship, fellowship, etc. 25% said that they don't leave just because there are some barriers preventing this, for example, children or religious principles. Only 1% said that they married only because they can't find decent alternatives available to a spouse.
It is curious that family life has a positive effect on life expectancy and state finances. For married chances suddenly die two times lower than for their peers never married. If the family disintegrates as a result of divorce or the death of a spouse, the chances remaining to prematurely retire from life increased by 50%.
Interestingly, according to statistics, the income of people who have never been married, 63% lower than the family (or divorced) with similar education or skill level!
And what he thinks about family values "Pepsi generation"? According to the survey, which was conducted by sociologists from the University of Michigan 70, 2% of boys and 82, 1% of girls are sure to create a good family for them "incredibly important". 57% of students and almost 64% of Schoolgirls is considered highly probable that they will live all my life with one and the same person. However, only 37% of young men and 32% of girls believe that the official family ensures a happier life than civil marriage or loneliness.
Civil or traditional?
In recent decades around the world has significantly increased the number of civil marriages. For example, according to statistics, every year in the United States played about 2, 2 million weddings. At the same time each year, 2.3 million Americans are not officially register their relationship, although live and run home together.
Now only 56% of American adults are legally married thirty years ago it was 75%. Only a quarter of American families living together and leading a joint household, now is a traditional family consisting of officially registered their relationship of parents and children.
According to official statistics, over the past 50 years the number of civil marriages has increased more than 10 times. Now one in four women aged 25-39 lives with her husband and partner. Research University Brigam young showed that in a similar way to build relationships prefer people with a low education level and income level. Also important is the level of religiosity (the higher the religiosity, the less chance that people will prefer to civil marriage customary) and previous family experience (civil marriage prefer almost 60% divorced). In addition, such a way of life prefer to people who grew up in families without fathers or had any psychological problems in childhood. However, more than 40% of the unregistered couples together raising children.
According to the American research of the Brookings Institution, half of the Suite had the experience of living together before the official registration of marriage. Fifty years ago this was a rarity. A large number of pairs, even for a long time living together with no plans for official registration of their relationship. Sociologists from the University of Western Washington reviewed: how marriage affects the normal strength of the marriage. The conclusion was as follows: the impact of zero - cohabitation before marriage strengthens and does not destroy it.
Psychologist Andrew Cherlin believes that the process of reducing the attractiveness of marriage goes in two directions. On the one hand, in recent years, official registration of family relations is becoming more and more popular among people with higher education, on the other uneducated part of the population prefers not to register their status. Moreover, families where both spouses have a high level of education, as a rule, stronger, and husbands and wives Express greater satisfaction with the quality of their families.
However, a family with a high level of education has one drawback - it is, as a rule, fewer children, that is, figuratively speaking, highly educated part of the population are physically unable to reproduce itself.
Among educated women are significantly less for single mothers in 2000 the singles were 12% of American women with higher education and 40% of women who failed to graduate from high school. And just in the U.S., according to Newsweek, outside of marriage is born 34% of children (compared to only 10% in 1970). If in 1968, almost 85% of children lived with both parents, while in 2002 this figure was 68%.
About loyalty...
Marriage does not guarantee and marital fidelity. According to the American Council for family studies only 77% of men and 88% of women married, remain faithful to their spouses.
What about loyalty to the deceased spouse, the journal American Sociological Review conducted on this topic interesting study. It showed that the risk to die after the death of her husband, the most serious in the first month after his death (for women it is equal to 62% for men and 52%). For women, the risk level decreases dramatically within three months after the spouse's death for men in six months.
But researchers from Harvard University found that, in the case of the death of his wife, white Americans die much more frequently than blacks. This conclusion was made based on the study of the life histories of more than 410 thousand elderly people in the US. As shown by the statistical analysis, the chance that a widowed white male in a short time after the death of his wife will die, is 18%. For white widowed women, it is 16%. At the same time, black Americans "the widower syndrome" is not valid for men and women the chance to suddenly die after the death of a spouse is practically zero.
The authors offer several explanations of this phenomenon. Older African Americans are twice as likely than whites, to live with families of their children. They lead a more active lifestyle, for example, are more likely to visit the Church. In addition, the families of blacks is less developed division of labour at home by gender, making spouses more self-reliant and independent.
Theory of divorce
For the couple who created the family in recent years, the risk of divorce is 40-50%. The chances of divorce during the first 10 years of marriage averaged nearly 32%.
An interesting conclusion was made by sociologists from the University of Chicago. The first years of life together 74% broken homes were almost cloudless. Unhappy marriage does not mean that both spouses are unhappy. In turn, the divorce does not guarantee neuroshima spouses happy life: the level of happiness among divorced men and women about the same as couples who feel that their marriage has failed, but continue to live together.
By the way, women are the initiators of divorce in 78% of cases. Among women with higher education, the figure is even higher at 90%.
National Center for health statistics, the US created the table, on the basis of which it is possible to determine the probability of divorce. If the total family income exceeds the average level, then the chances of divorce are reduced by 30% compared with those who have low income. The birth of a child reduces the chances of divorce by 24%. Marriage after the age of 25 years reduces the probability of divorce by 23% (compared with those who are married or married at a younger age). If both spouses grew up in complete families (i.e., they were mom and dad) the probability of divorce decreases by 14%, compared to those who were brought up by one parent. At the same time reduces risk and serious attitude to religion. Higher education provides a risk reduction of 13% (compared with those who only school certificates).
Is it easy to marry an educated woman?
For a long time it was thought that the best education is given to the woman, the lower her chances to marry and have a family. In fact, worldwide, the trend is still relevant. However, in the USA in recent years there has been a change for the better. And according to the forecasts of psychologists, it is quite possible that soon this trend will feel and all the rest. So, what awaits us?
According to statistics in America of the 1980s the fairer sex, education level of candidate or doctor of Sciences, has been struggling with finding a partner in life. However, this situation is no longer true. American women have a higher level of education more attractive wife for Americans XXI century.
The Elaine rose from the University of Washington analyzed millions of cards collected during the census, the population of the United States and owned by persons aged 40-44 years. It turned out that in 1980, women of this age who continued to study after obtaining higher education (i.e. after University or College), were married on 14 percent less likely than women with only a high school diploma. In 2000, this difference is reduced to 5 percent. These results are at first surprised researchers. In the 80s the fairer sex mostly marry more educated men - a phenomenon that has been known to sociologists as hypergamy (hypergamy). Thus, it was assumed that only well-educated women will flood the marriage market (as happened in America in the 80-ies and 90-ies), hypergamy will cease to be the predominant trend in marriages, and women will find it more difficult to find husbands. However, research at the University of Washington showed just the opposite: in modern America just education leads to the creation of the family and, as a rule, preserve it for longer time.
The author of the research of Elaine rose argues that what is happening now on the marriage market, associated with a change in the nature of marriage. Traditional marriage was associated with specialization and exchange, i.e. the wife specializes in the home and children, while the husband brings home food.
However, in modern conditions, both spouses work outside the home and share in the past, traditional family roles. Thus, it is no wonder that more educated women are considered more attractive partners. As a rule, they have a well-paid job and is capable of supporting material welfare of the family on an equal basis with men, and even better.
If the problem is education and marriage still exists, it is not about women and poorly educated men. For example, only 59 percent of men with a high school diploma cannot find wives, compared with 75 percent of male candidates. Women tend to choose partners with at least the same level of education or higher.
This trend bothers many sociologists, experts in marriage. No American state is not currently able to boast that its territory men have more diplomas of universities or colleges than women. In recent years, the U.S. women accounted for 57 percent of students at universities and colleges among the white population. Among Americans of Hispanic origin, the difference is even more to only 40 percent of guys graduate from the College. Among African Americans for every two female diploma have one male. And this shift in the distribution of higher education between the sexes leads to big problems in the marriage market.
If the trend numerical superiority of women in colleges continue, the number of potential candidates in men for young women in America will be reduced, and fewer men will be able to create a family.
The situation is compounded by the fact that today's young men are less Mature than they were representatives of their sex 20 years ago. Statistics, for example, show that modern girls better write and read, show more enthusiasm in study and ambition in achieving the objectives. All this allows them to successfully complete the educational institution and find work.
However, this view is not shared by all experts. For example, Kathleen, Gerson, sociologist from new York University, considers the situation to be modest academic achievements of men as a fictitious problem. In the recent past, male College students were much more than women, but the end of the world, that is, the marriage never occurred.
Being an expert in family relations, Gerson indicates that in a time when women less dependent on men financially, couples take a more honest decisions about living together.
Men and women marry, showing a truly free choice, more free than he was ever before in human history.
Source:
Washington ProFile
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