D.A.Iskakova¹, А.S.Zhumadilova²

¹Taraz State Pedagogical University, Taraz, Kazakhstan

 ( 03Darina@mail.ru  zh_aliya76@mail.ru  )

Research methods for family and marital relationships

Abstract. This article investigates various research methods used for family and marital relationships.  The complicated nature of family relationships requires a modern psychological approach and being objective by using complex analysis and examinations. The aim of this article is to research the holistic aspects of family relationships. Additionally, the article pays attention to the rate of divorce and marriages in Kazakhstan and investigates the circumstances that cause the break-up of family unions.

Key words: family, relationship, globalization, communication.

During the twenty-first century, the attention of many specialists such as ethnographers, culturologists, demographers, sociologists, psychologists, sexologists, lawyers, doctors and educators have been drawn towards problems encountered within marriages and families. The cause of interest is due to an increasing number of divorces, low birth rates, non-traditional marriage forms, a conscious rejection of family life, male and female loneliness, dissatisfaction with family life, interpersonal relationship issues within marriage, problems upbringing children and many more reasons.

The aforementioned problems are the result of globalization which affect both the specific personality of a man and woman and family life. This manifests into individual psychological characteristics, personal attitudes, expectations, perceptions and value orientations. Subsequently, the nature of the interaction between men and women as well as the interrelations amongst family members are also affected. Conclusively, these factors amongst others are accountable for the levels of satisfaction people have within family and marital relationships.

The personal development and well-being of each family member and for the family to be functional as a whole, communication is the key factor. Primarily it is the role of the parents to be responsible for the well-being of the children and family. It is vital for the parents to identify and solve problems timely and understand the complications of family life. However, this is not always done effectively and subsequently, external interventions may be required. A psychologist may be approached for professional advice for resolution, reconciling relationships in the family and the psychological development of children. An important component of psychological assistance and determining its effectiveness requires an assessment of the family as a whole, as well as the dynamics of the marital and child-parent relations. Marital and parent-child relationships are complex interconnected subsystems within the psychological system “family”. Assisting parents and children, as well as helping a married couple, positively impacts the well-being of the entire family.

Psychological diagnostics is a key area of practitioners. A family psychologist navigates through the existing variety of diagnostic tools to determine an adequate proposed system of techniques which shall be put forward in recommendation for treatment.

 The proposed psychodiagnostics techniques make it possible to conduct an empirical study of family history, family structure, the state of the marital sub-system relations and the dynamics of child-parent interaction.  During such study, the psychologist aims to determine how dysfunctional the family, specific members or interrelations of such, are. Also, it is imperative to attain a chronological and reliable information about the relationships of family members especially during crisis situations.

The well-being of families is a priority of any modern state interested in maintaining its population, strengthening its international status and all socio-cultural institutions that form the basis of social sciences. The position of the family, the trends characterizing its condition (type of family, marriage, childhood, etc.) are significant indicators that reveal not only the process of generational change, but also the general state of affairs in the country, and most importantly, the real prospects of a particular society.

A family, is one of mankind’s most ancient forms of the social community pre- existent to class, nations or states, and has everlasting sentimental value. The evolution of mankind and human behaviour has resulted in several social phenomena, which has always been of great interest to researchers.

Psychologically, there is no formulae or blueprint to a healthy family environment. Instead, each family is unique and the environment is dependent on each member and their contribution. The initial basis for a happy and functional family is the spousal relationship. Modern marriage is based on the compatibility of people as individuals. Living together requires spouses to compromise, be able to take into consideration the needs of the partner, to develop qualities such as mutual respect, trust, and understanding.

When entering into relationships, one does so with other individuals and material objects. People produce not only their objective being, but also their relations to each other. These relations, as Karl Marx showed, are a historical product arising together with activity and becoming a certain form of it’s existence. Thus, in the most general form, all relationships can be divided into relations to the subject and relations to another person. Communication and activity are inextricable. In some cases communication and activity act as “two sides of a person’s social life”, whereas in other cases, communication is interpreted as a function of activity: “human actions acquire ... a two-fold function, a directly production function and a function of influencing other people, communication function.”

The empirical data from a number of researchers including A.G. Kharcheva, S.I. Golod, I. Gelman and more, characterizes the attitude of men and women towards pre-marital sexual relations and if there are motives to engage or not in such. This data indicates that men are more accustomed and approve premarital sexual relationships with the main motive being sexual need, curiosity and thirst for adventure.

Representatives of the female sex more often pointed to love, sympathy and the requirement of a partner. Therefore, premarital communication by women is primarily an expression of affection, appreciation, one’s disposition (that is, a means of expressing one’s attitude) and only then does the need/desire for physical intimacy arise. In men, premarital sexual relationships sometimes act as an end in itself, with a more pronounced erotic stain.

This is also evident from data on the reasons that hold back women from premarital intercourse. Considering the socio-psychological differences between men and women as one of the important components of sexual differentiation, the research provides a series of evidence indicating the biosocial determinism of the differences and the inevitability of their manifestation in all spheres of life. These differences are of particular importance at the stage of marriage and family development, when there is an increase in the role of the subjective factor and an increase in the requirements of marriage partners for interpersonal relationships.

Close attention is drawn towards the fact that the most significant differences occur amongst couples divorcing or having divorced. This partly illustrates both the insufficient choice of partner, ignorance and underestimating the socio-psychological characteristics of men and women. Many negative aspects in marital relations can be avoided by conducting preventative measures, providing future marriage partners with information about both the anatomical, physiological and psychological characteristics of sex, as well as about optimal behaviors in marriage and family.

With this purpose, it is proposed to expand and deepen research on family and marital problems (taking into account gender differentiation), organize widespread popularization of the data obtained, organize training of personnel who will be engaged in popularization, expand the network of special services that help to choose a marriage partner and optimize family relationships.

In a marriage, the authors distinguish and consider four fairly independent levels of relations: psychophysiological, psychological, socio-psychological and sociocultural. Psychophysiological contact goes beyond direct sexual contact, manifesting itself in the form of various erotic games: flirting, kisses, hugs, touching without the purpose of sexual contact. Therefore, for psychophysiological communication, not only the purely sexual characteristics of partners (type of sexual constitution, sexual potency, etc.) are important, but also physique, body reactivity, and appearance.

As a result, the cause of dissatisfaction of some spouses is not sexual contact in the narrow sense of the word, but the form of erotic games, the manifestation of sexual interest, the appearance of the partner. Accordingly, the psychophysiological disharmony is expressed in two types of disorders: sexual life (physiological aspect) and erotic contacts (psychological aspect). If in the first case the couple needs the help of a qualified sexologist, then in the second, the help of a psychologist is often sufficient.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Moreover, a sufficient effect is achieved in a simple conversation, where the spouses agree on the forms and methods of erotic behavior, accept the wishes of the partner for the aesthetic appearance.

The psychological level of marital relations has much in common with the intimate-confessional form of friendship and love relationships (for example, premarital relations of the newlyweds). It is known that the main function of these types of interpersonal relationships is selective contact, which contributes to the most complete self-expression of a person. Psychological disharmony is often expressed in the form of alienation of marriage partners, a tense atmosphere of clashes and conflicts of a personal order, when the characteristics of the partner’s temperament and character are criticized and rejected. Psychologically incompatible partners have difficulty distributing initiative, power, and leadership.

The authors of the study found that psychological incompatibility with prolonged contact is expressed in symptoms of neurotic personality. At the same time, at the first stage, personality disorders are similar for everyone and are expressed in mood disorders (depression, irritability), in the future, the personality develops its inherent symptoms: hypochondria, neurasthenic, psychopathic, paranoid and other symptoms.

Currently in psychology there are a huge number of specific methodological techniques for the study of interpersonal marital relations. Nevertheless, one of the acute problems of family counseling is obtaining complete, objective, sufficient information about the client's marital and family situation. The accuracy and diagnosis, the choice of methods and directions of corrective work, and the effectiveness of assistance depend on this information. The collection of information assumes that the consultant has a certain model of the family and marriage, possible sources of their destabilization. The conceptual settings of the consultant serve to streamline the information received from the client.

However, the theory of family and marriage is still far from complete. This leads to significant discrepancies in the methods and nature of the information collected, its interpretation and use. It is for this reason that A.N. Volkova and T.M. Trapeznikova (8, p. 110) “made an attempt to draw up a program for collecting information about a married couple. As you can see, it is this information in various combinations and interpretations that is used by most practitioners”. Program items cover holistic aspects of marriage.

Research work and the development of appropriate methodological tools, as practice shows, should go in parallel. First of all, it is necessary to develop those diagnostic procedures that provide the study of the most pressing problems now, especially in the future. Of course, it is extremely difficult to predict which aspects of the institution of the family and family relations will be in the near future in the focus of researchers.

Predictions of fairly authoritative international sources indicate, as the most probable, from the point of view of priority, topics related to non-traditional forms of family organization (teenage marriages, marriage of convenience, contract marriage), ensuring the quality of marriage and a number of others. Such forecasts are caused by certain changes taking place now with the institution of the family itself.

         According to the National report 2020, the analysis of foreign models of family policy has shown that a mixed type of model of family policy is practiced in Kazakhstan. The stability and economic development of the state and the family are interdependent, therefore, the state is supposed to be closely interested  in its problems, interests and needs. In developed countries a specially organized system of state family policy can provide the necessary assistance with institutional problems of the family to the certain extent. As the global world is extensively contributing to the new shapes and values of the modern society, the NJSC “Kazakhstan Institute of Public Development” attempted to build and determine the national models and modern trends in family policy in Kazakhstan. The aforementioned organization conducted a survey where the  social, demographic and economic developments in the society were investigated. Different experts of various backgrounds partook in this survey. The experts outlined some problems caused by world pandemic such as poor education, malnutrition and overall well-being of the children, psychological and economic pressure on adults and a crisis in the institution of the family in Kazakhstan. Additionally, the children spend most of the time on their own on social media while parents are busy in pursuit of earning money. The experts determined the main directions of development of the national policy by taking into consideration the following factors such as level of income, education, health, feeling of love and respect, financial stability, presence of children and many others.

Figure 1. The main directions of the national family policy

Source: Kazakhstan families, National Report 2020

         This model includes mechanisms for managing the country’s family and gender policy: legal, organizational, economic, market mechanisms and various organizations that influence the development of the institution of the family in Kazakhstan. This model also includes the following elements that affect the strengthening of the institution of the family in Kazakhstan: family support centers, medical and sports organizations, research centers, child development centers, educational institutions, cultural and leisure organizations, organizations for spiritual development, financial and credit institutions, insurance companies, crisis centers, government agencies, courts, non-governmental organizations, public organizations, counseling centers, family psychologists, mediators and more.

         Should we investigate the marriage and divorce trends in last 18 years we can notice that the number of marriages is declining whereas the rate of divorce is increasing. In the light of this tendency, the state should adopt the more effective policy and deploy the sufficient funds and educate and support the young people to build a stable and happy families.

Figure  2. Marriage and divorces, 2010-2023

Source: We, Kazakhstan, Ministry of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Committee on statistics, 2019

         Between 2013 and 2018, the number of marriages dropped countrywide by 18%, though saw a 28% drop in East Kazakhstan Oblast. The number of divorces between 2000–2018 almost doubled. Divorces became more frequent in all regions of the country—from an increase of 1.3 times in East Kazakhstan Oblast, to 2.8 times in Almaty Oblast. Divorces are most frequent in the northern and eastern regions and the cities of Nur-Sultan and Almaty, where divorce rates are higher than the country’s average. Fewer people divorce in the southern and western regions of the country. If in 2000, divorces accounted for 30% of marriages, in 2018 the ratio increased to 40%. Should this divorce-to-marriage ratio persist, in the future more than one third of marriages will dissolve. This can adversely affect the number of second and subsequent births.

         In conclusion, it can be stated that the traditions of the family lifestyle have been preserved in Kazakhstan to some extent, although marriage and family sometimes take new, unusual forms. At the same time, we are witnessing such contradictory socio-demographic phenomena as the instability of marital relations, a significant number of divorces, including among married couples with children; a high proportion of single-parent families, an increase in the number of children - social orphans and children deprived of parental care. They, as a rule, are among those crisis manifestations that accompany the Kazakhstani transit economy and indicate serious failures in the mechanism for the implementation of the basic functions of the family. The above-mentioned crisis phenomena constitute the most acute challenge of today, which society must understand and to which it must adequately respond. Overcoming the considered negative phenomena is possible only if a comprehensive socio-demographic policy is implemented, aimed at strengthening the institution of the family on the basis of integrating the best examples of modern ideology of family building and marriage and family traditions of Kazakhstanis.

References

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