As stated in our text, various factors can bind married couples together, such as economic interdependencies, legal, social and moral constraints, relationship, and amongst other things. In the recent years some of these factors have diminished their strengths. The modern generation sees marriage in a different perspective altogether. Individuals today feel they are stable independently, they do not need to rely on their spouse for emotional or financial support. Many are career driven and soar to conquer their dreams over settling down with a family. Such untraditional views have increased divorce rates.…
Over the past forty years marriage, divorce and cohabitation rates have fluctuated significantly. For example, the number of divorces has increased from 27,000 in 1961 to 153,000 by 2006, whilst the Telegraph newspaper reported that ‘one in six people are cohabiting as marriage rates decline’. Why is this? There are multiple reasons for these varying statistics.…
In order to assess reasons for the changes in the patterns of marriage and cohabitation; it is necessary to first establish the term marriage and cohabitation. Marriage is traditionally conceived to be a legally recognized relationship, between two consenting adults, that carries certain rights and obligations. Cohabitation is an arrangement whereby couples who are not legally married live together in partnership within the common law. Cohabitation has become so widespread that the term itself is now rarely used. I will now critically examine the changes in the patterns of marriage and cohabitation in the last 40 years or so.…
Over the last 40 years marriage rates have declined significantly while the number of couple’s cohabitating has risen rapidly. This is due to our changing society where equality, laws, social acceptance and religions have all contributed into the way we view marriage and relationships. In the 1970’s there were around 400,000 first marriages whereas, in 2011, there were 248,000. The average ages of people getting married have also increased from 25 for men and 23 for women in 1961 to 36 for men and 33 for women in 2011. Cohabitation is a big factor in the decreasing number of marriages with people using it as either an alternative to marriage entirely, or a ‘trial marriage’ which just delays the time of a couple’s marriage.…
Going Solo, Roald Dahl's memoir of his work in East Africa and his service in the RAF, covers the buildup to World War II and his involvement in it. In the book, mention is made of British Immigration. British Immigration plays a large role in the memoir as it talks about how the British were sent to Africa to civilize the people there. Dahl says about British immigration that " [I]n the 1930s the British empire was still very much the British, and the men and women who kept it going were a race of people that most of you have never encountered and now you never will". In fact, British immigration is important because as it turns out, a lot of the British Immigrants couldn't even do civilize the people like they were supposed to.…
Cohabitation is an arrangement where two people who are not married live together in an intimate relationship, usually an emotionally and/or sexually intimate one, on a long term or permanent one. Before 1970, cohabitation was illegal in certain countries, like America. But due to a change in the law, Cohbitation is now a common way of living, all over the world. As well as sex/birth outside of marriage, leaving at least 50% to 60% of couples cohabitating, this started in the late 1990s. This lead to the decline of traditional nuclear families as people want to live in companionship because nearly half the amount of marriages now end in divorce, as well as cohabitating being cheaper, easier and less hassle. The new right see the decline in the traditional nuclear family and increase on family diversity as negative trends on modern society. From the new right perspective, these changes are the cause of many social problems in Britain today.…
Macklin, E. D. (1980). Nontraditional family forms: A decade of research. Journal of marriage and the Family, 42, 905-922.…
Couple therapy' is an enterprise that is subject to pressures analogous to those affecting couple relationships themselves. The needs of the partners as individuals, of children and kinfolk, and of the larger community, all press for attention. The couple relationship being the client, the therapist's task is to manage the tension between competing voices, focusing on others only to the extent that is necessary to assist the partners to evaluate, and perhaps seek to change, influences that affect their capacity to make choices about the nature of their relationship. In England and Wales, therapeutic work with couples was the earliest manifestation of initiatives that have resulted in a wide variety of forms of counselling and psychotherapy being available to the general public today. It remains largely the province of the voluntary agencies which were responsible for introducing and developing it over the past 60 or more years (Lewis et al. 1992). Today, services are offered to those in common law relationships and in lesbian or gay relationships, as well as to married couples and those forming or ending relationships. Work with second and subsequent relationships, and the problems arising in 'blended' families, are a growing part of couple therapists' work. Some couple therapists also offer psychosexual therapy and others staff schemes specifically designed to address domestic violence. Educational programmes preparing people for adult relationships and for parenting have been provided by the 'marital' agencies since their earliest days, often using…
Historian Frederick Jackson Turner 's famous essay "The Significance of the Frontier in American History" defines the "frontier" as a place of westward expansion with new opportunities, heroism, triumph and progress mainly by brave white men. While he writes that the "closing of the frontier" occurred with the extinction of the Western frontier and cowboy 's character, Americans have found a way to glamorize the image of the cowboy in the west during the 1800 's. It is important to emphasize the distinction that historians make between the pop-culture romantic image of the cowboy and the actual lives of cowboys who worked the ranches in a quiet and solitary manner.…
Fully explain and concisely illustrate two (2) of the "Theoretical Perspectives on Families" discussed in your text (pp. 37–49). Use families presented in television programs, the movies, novels, or the Bible to illustrate the selected perspectives.…
Our program will consist of different steps over a six month period. The program will include group discussions, individual couple therapy, separation, dates, and keeping a journal. Throughout the process, therapy will come after each task that is given so that the individuals can understand the importance of each. Being married is not always easy and can downfall quickly if the couple does not communicate how they feel. “The fastest way to get to the bottom of a problem is to communicate” (Esere, M., Yeyeodu, A., & Oladun 2014). We will start by listening to the concerns of each person in the relationship in individual couple therapy session followed by a group discussion about how it makes them feel. We want each individual to listen to the…
In Linda J. Waite’s pro-marriage article “Marriage Matters,” she sheds statistical light on the outweighing positive, as well as the negative, aspects of marriage. From her view, there are four outcomes which are directly affected from marriage opposing including: health, wealth, intimacy with your spouse, and, of course, the children. These four topics are the areas most affected (positive or negatively) by living single, married, cohabitating, or rebuilt lifestyles.…
I remember when my husband and I were dating and we both decided to move in with each other rather quickly. We both felt in order to really get to know one another; we had to see how compatible we both were. Because of this, in just a short three years, we were married but living together really proved to be a valuable lesson for the future. In today’s society many people are getting married and divorced at record rates which are really affecting people views psychologically when it comes to marriage vs. cohabitation; therefore, I plan on exploring both options to see how both of these options work.…
One problem that blended families face is when the parents get remarried too soon. Whether it is the need for companionship or financial hardship, the choice of when to get remarried needs to be carefully considered. Far too often, new spouses have “unresolved issues” from previous marriages (“Stepfamilies”). These emotional issues may be severe enough that “proper counseling or therapy” should be sought out (Pino). Another reason couples get remarried too soon is inadequate finances. By moving in together they can cut costs but the sudden lack of privacy or the new stepchildren can quickly cause problems in the new marriage. The decision to get remarried should be made after all of the issues are understood.…
In some countries, there may be “non-traditional” households which include single live-alones, adult live-togethers of one or both sexes,…