LECTURE 9 - Changing Trends

1st article - The mental health of youth and young adults during the transition to adulthood in
Egypt

Introduction/literature review:

- In life course theory, the transition to adulthood is conceived as a process - a period of

life during which individuals pass through multiple, often closely sequenced age-graded
experiences and expectations.
- Marriage is the transition to adulthood
- Failure to achieve expected major life transitions such as: marriage, employment, etc
affects the mental health & psychological well-being of youth.
- The rigidity of expectations around the transition to adulthood also varies considerably
across contexts, both in the extent to which institutions allow flexibility around
age-structured services or benefits, and in the extent to which nonnormative pathways
through the transition to adulthood are socially sanctioned
- Young people’s agency, aspirations, and other psychological factors influence their
pathways through the transition to adulthood.
- Stressors during the transitions to adulthood, 1) timing, 2) sequencing, 3) failure to
complete expected socio economic transitions may affect their psychosocial outcomes.
- Another stressor are period effects - a change which occurs at a particular time, affecting
all age groups and cohorts uniformly

Demographic changes in Egypt:

- In egypt, the most populous country in the MENA region, approximately 34.5% of the
population is between the ages of 15 and 34.
- These young people are making the transition to adulthood, assuming new roles and
responsibilities as they finish schooling, enter the labor force, marry, and start families.
- Changes in contexts & experiences compared to childhood - social role change: the
current generation of young people is passing through the transition to adulthood in a
context that is very different from that of their parents. In postindependence societies
throughout the Middle East, the transition to adulthood was heavily influenced by state
institutions, as the public provision of education, social protection, and public-sector jobs
expanded rapidly. Since the 1990s this expansion of the public sector has slowed as
neoliberal economic policies have been slow to adjust to the new economic realities
- This context of uncertainty during the transition to adulthood has important implications
for young people’s long-term outcomes.
 - From a psychological perspective, the numerous social role-changes encompassed by the
transition to adulthood may be expected to impact mental health outcomes as young
people are exposed to contexts and experiences that differ from developmental influences
during childhood
- Uncertainty and the inability to successfully pursue planned or desired pathways during
the transition to adulthood may influence the directionality of these impacts.
- Following life course theory - the disruption of individuals’ progression through
age-differentiated roles, and the delay or failure to successfully complete certain socially
or institutionally conditioned events (e.g. marriage, school-to-work transition), may lower
overall well-being and lead to poorer life outcomes.

Magnitude & importance of mental health issues in Egypt:

- The global burden of poor mental health, including among young people, has
increasingly been recognized as a major public health issues
- Worldwide, young people are disproportionately affected by mental disorders and related
risk behaviors, which are often not recognized or addressed until later in life
- In Egypt, 10.6% of men, & 21.1 % of women have mental disorders

Marriage implications on men & women key findings:

- Large % of women never worked

- Many of women who work view work as a transition between school & getting married
- Our results indicate that marriage is protective for young men, but is unrelated to changes
in mental health for young women, and that entering marriage is associated with a
significant improvement in young men’s mental health, particularly for the oldest age
group.
- Such association is not observed for women, which is somewhat surprising given the
significance of marriage in women’s lives.
- While this milestone may reflect a positive achievement, several contextual changes
concurrent with marriage may negatively affect women’s mental wellbeing
- Therefore - results indicate that marriage in relation to mental health is, protective for
young men, unrelated to young women, significant improvement in mental health
for older men, not observed in women

Marriage for women:

- Milestone, positive achievement

- However, can be a stressor due to:
 - Ecological factors: away from protective social resources/adjusting to new home & social
environment
- Primary responsibility of housework & childcare
Limitations:

- Not causal effect

- Only one measure of mental health
- Additional research is needed
- Advantage: “one of the first studies to use nationally representative data to examine the
mental health of young people in Egypt.”

2nd article: marriage in the arab world

- Changes in Arab world’s population:

Families in the arab world are undergoing major changes as new patterns of marriage and family
formation emerge across the region

Universal, early marriage is no longer the standard it once was in Arab countries: the average age
at marriage for both men and women is generally rising, and more arab women are staying single
longer or not marrying at all

Nearly one in every five egyptians is between ages 20 and 29

- Marriage & the family:

The family has always been at the center of life in Arab societies, held in great esteem among
young and old alike. Families are the main social security system for the elderly, sick, or disabed:
they also provide economic refuge for children and youth, the unemployed, and other
dependents. In arab culture,

In Arab culture, marriage is also a well-defined turning point that bestows prestige, recognition,
and societal approval on both partners, particularly the bride.

While young men and women generally choose their own spouses, marriage in Arab societies
remains a social and economic contract between two families. Finally, it is also a rite of passage
to a socially, culturaly, and legally acceptable sexual relationship

- Trends in marriage
Women throughout the Arab region once typically married in their teens or early 20s. In recent
decades, however, early marriage has declined sharply in parts of the region - most notably in
Kuwait, Libya, and the UAE.

For the region as a whole, women are marrying later, and some women are not marrying at all.

The marriage-age gap (the worldwide phenomenon of women commonly marrying older men) is
particularly pronounced in Arab societies.

- Disadvantages of early marriage

Among reasons:
- Traditional values around virginity, family honour

Early marriage is generally associated with early childbearing and high fertility, both of which
pose health risks for women and the children

Married adolscents are less likely to know about contraceptive methods and sexually transmitted
diseases

Very young mothers are also at greater risk than older mothers of dying from causes related to
pregnancy and childbirth

The younger the bride is, the more significant the age gap with her husband tends to be - which
exacerbates her disadvantage in negotiating with her husband on matters such as her own health
care needs.

Finally, early marriage is one important reasons that girls leave school, making it more difficult
for young women to escape their vicious cycle of poverty, high fertility, and poor health

- Consanguinity

One distinctive feature of Arab families is their relatively high rate of marriage between
relatives, a practice known as consanguinity.

Marriage between close relatives can jeopardize the health of their offspring, as can marriage
among families with a history of genetic diseases.

- Education and marriage

More couples in Arab societies now feature women with similar or higher levels of education
compared with their husbands.

More education women also generally marry later than their less-educated counterparts

- Redefinition of women’s roles

Women are challenging traditional roles

In Arab societies, women’s status is mainly defined by their roles as mothers and wives. By
“failing” to meet these expectations, single women do not have an easily defined or comfortable
niche in society.

Single women with no education or job skills face particular problems in the Arab world because
of their lack of financial dependence

However, increasing numbers of arab women are single, forcing their societies to grapple with a
“new” category of women

Successful career women are more likely to escape from the traditional stereotype and find
opportunities for self-fulfillment beyond the roles of mother and wife.

These women are no longer necessarily portrayed by their family members and society as
failures for being unable to secure a partner

- Implications on legal form

The centrality of marriage and its near universality across Arab societies in the past have
translated into public policies and legal structures in Arab countries that generally relegate
women to a minor role, supported by a male breadwinner

For example, Arab laws usually identify men as the sole beneficiaries for direct transfers and non
wage benefits from the state. Since women are not regarded as breadwinners, working women
cannot automatically claim family benefits.

After efforts by women’s groups, the Egyptian parliament in 2000 passed a new law that changed
procedures associated with the personal-status law.
The law - known as khul’ - gave a woman the right to initiate a divorce without the consent of
her husband if she would give up some of her financial rights.

Egypt also allowed children to inherit their mother’s Egyptian citizenship when those children;s
fathers were not Egyptian.

- Implications of high marriage costs: non-conventional forms of marriage

The high costs of Arab marriage as well as high unemployment and economic difficulties are
blamed for the spread of the so-called ‘urfi’ (or common-law) marriages among young urban
adults in some countries in the region.

Generally hidden from the participants’ families, urfi marriages are undertaken to avoid the
difficulties of a standard marriage and give a sexual relationship some degree of legitimacy.

The secrecy surrounding urfi marriages puts young women at a particular disadvantage because
these women are not able to negotiate the terms of their marriage - a role usually played by
families in conventional marriages.

Anecdotal evidence also suggests increases in mutua’a and mesyar, other forms of
nonconventonal marriages in the Arab world.

In mutu’a (temporary marriage), which is practiced by the Shi’ites in Lebanon, couples specify
in their marriage contract the date upon which the marriage ends.

Mesyar - mainly practiced in the Gulf countries - is an arrangement in which a man marries
without any of the housing and financial responsibility that a standard Arab marriage generally
requires of him.

Both marital forms are practiced mostly by men who are marrying a second wife.

While mutu’a and mesyar marriages tend to give legitimacy to sexual relationships and reduce
the number of never-married women in society, they introduce other social complications such as
the upbringing of children from such marriages.

- Conclusion
2 factors underlying the changes in marriage trends:

1. Growing number of young people

2. Economic & social realities
LECTURE 10 - Sex..The Taboo

Importance of sexual knowledge:

- ⅕ of Egypt’s population is at the age of 15-24 - critical age undergoing several biological,
psychological, and social changes
- Millions of young men and women have unanswered questions and unresolved problems
related to sexual and reproductive health
- Some questions are disturbing causing stress, anxiety
- These questions may stay unanswered due to lack of reliable sources of knowledge

1st article - Population Council. Breaking the Silence: Learning about Youth Sexual &
Reproductive Health in Egypt

- Lack of sexual knowledge/introduction

Research tackling youth SRH issues in Egypt barely exists

Young people 10-29 years of age account for more than 40 percent of the country’s population

Despite the growing numbers of adolescents and youth in egypt and their potential exposure to
high-risk behaviors, little is known about their knowledge or practices in relation to SRH.

The lack of research on youth SRH is largely due to social and cultural norms wherein topics
related to sexuality are considered private matters that should not be discussed in public

This culture of silence has impacted researchers, potential research participants, and government
authorities.

Many researchers and their academic supervisors are not aware of salient issues in youth SRH
and hence do not consider it a research priority.

Others may refrain from studying certain topics or behaviors that conflict with their own
personal values.

There is widespread belief that talking openly about sex might encourage unmarried youth to
engage in premarital sexual relations.
As in many parts of the world, youth in Egypt face a number of SRH risks. As a result of recent
socioeconomic developments, young men and women stay in school longer and delay marriage.

During this relatively long transitional period between childhood and adulthood, young people
may have sexual relationships before marriage, putting them at risk of stigmatization, STDs,
unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and more.

Early marriage also poses signifcant risks to the health and well-being of young women,
including complicaions of early pregnancy, gender-based violence, and sexuallly ransmitted
infections, especially if these girls are married to men who are much older than they are.

- Summary of 6 studies of youth sexual & reproductive health

1. Mother and daughter communication

Using focus group discussions with mothers and adolescent daughters, Yousri and Mamdoug
examined patterns of communication and barriers that interfered with adequate communication.

The study revealed insufficient communication between mothers and daughters on matters
related to SRH.

Even among mothers and daughters who regarded their relationship as “close,” there were taboo
topics that were never discussed, such as marriage, pregnancy, sexuality, and sexually
transmitted diseases.

Lack of information and lack of communication skills were among the main challenges that
prevented mothers from communicating with their daughters.

Lack of trust was also evident among both mothers and daughters.

Mothers were afraid that “too much” information might encourage their daughters to engage in
inappropriate behavior, while daughters were afraid to ask questions or to reveal information to
their mothers lest they get punished.

On the positive side, both mothers and daughters appreciated the importance of communication
with each other and were willing to talk and listen to each other, but they did not know how to do
it.

2. Father and son communication

A school-based survey found a marked inconsistency between fathers’ attitudes and their
communication behavior

Whereas the majority of fathers believed that their adolescent sons should know abou SRH
issues, believed that no association existed between discussing SRH with their sons and
inappropriate behavior on the part of the child, and believed that commuication about SRH was
not against customs or religions.

Fathers’ knowledge of SRH topics, especially pubertal changes, was associated with increased
communication with their adolescent sons

3. Sex education in schools

Egyptian schools supposedly provide basic RH information to third-year preparatory students

through the science curriculum.

However, anecdotal evidence indicates that this curriculum is seldom taught.

Teachers acknowledged the importance of teaching adolescents the course.

Ministry of Education officials believe in the importance of educating students about SRH, but
they do not see it as a priority, others do not think school is the right venue to teach this subject
to young people,

Both teachers and supervisors blame conservative social norms and parents’ resistance to
educating their children about SRH as barriers that hinder proper teaching of the course.

4. “Youth-friendly” clinics

“Youth-friendly” clinics have been established in Cairo and other several governorates, with the
assistance of international organizations.

Although the purpose of these clinics is to provide RH services and information to young people
in a private and comfortable setting, service statistics fro the clinics point to severe
under-utilization.

A study’s findings suggest inadequate quality of care in these clinics, with deficient information
offered to youth, judgmental treatment by providers, and blatant breaches of client privacy and
confidentiality.
Health care providers in these clinics were unaware of the SRH needs of youth and had strong
biases against youth sexual behavior, unresolved moral conflicts, and ethical dilemmas toward
youth sexuality.

Expectedly, providers were more tolerant of male sexual activity and were more willing to
provide male clients than female clients with information and advice.

5. Early marriage for adolescent girls

Married adolescent girls in Egypt are particularly impacted by the unavailability of RH

information and services, because they are often poor, uneducated, and have limited mobility and
no decision-making power.

Early marriage is a salient issue in rural Upper Egypt where many girls are married before the
legal age of 18.

A study revealed a number of problems and risks that married adolescents girls are exposed to,
including sexual dissatisfaction and sexual violence.

These girls’ first encounter with sex (on the wedding night) is usually taumatic, because the girls
have to undergo rapid defloration by their husband (or a traditional birth attendant) to
remonstrate their virginity.

Before getting married, none of the girls received information from their mothers or family
members on what to expect regarding sexual relations on the wedding night.

Communication between these girls and their husbands was generally poor, especially on matters
related to sex or achieving sexual satisfaction.

6. Sexual harassment

Half of the young women in Egypt aged 10-29 years had been sexually harassed.

There is a widespread belief among young men, through a study, that sexual harassment was not
a form of sexual abuse but a socially acceptable form of flirtation that is enjoyed by some
women.

Participants tend to justify sexual harassment and gender-based violence as a response to

provocation by the woman, if she dresses or acts “inappropriately,”
Reasons that young men gave for sexually harassing women are seeking a sexual outlet,
achieving sexual pleasure, and complying with peer pressure.

The study revealed highly conservative gender norms and a perception of women as irrational
sexual beings whose behavior needs to be controlled by the men in their families.

- Conclusion

Difficulties in conducting research reflect the taboo of society

Youth are eager to know

Limited accessibility of knowledge

Gatekeepers (parents, teachers, health care providers), acknowledge the importance, but are
reluctant to bear this responsibility

Culture of silence = barrier to healthy adulthood transition

Young women who marry without preparation / knowledge: get shocked on 1st sexual encounter;
which probably affects their sexual relations for the rest of their lives

Young men: fall victim of misconceptions about sexuality & can be violent to assert superiority
over women

Conflict, lack of information & trust, makes it unlikely for young men & women to develop
positive attitudes towards their bodies & sexuality and have healthy relationships based on
mutual love & respect

2nd article: Perceptions of Gender Roles in Sexual Relations and the Sexual Experiences of
Medical Students in the Nile Delta of Egypt

- Study Objective

Perception of gender roles in sexual relations as well as self-reported sexual experiences

Medical students

Delta
 - Background info

Sexual health requires a positive and respectful approach to sexuality and sexual relationships, as
well as the possibility of having pleasurable and safe sexual experiences, free of coercion,
discrimination, and violence.

For sexual health to be attained and maintained, the sexual rights of all persons must be
respected, protected, and fulfilled

Sexual behaviors refer to a variety of sexual acts such as talking about sex, solitary masturbation,
intimacy, and sexual intercourse, as well as sexual experiences and how people express their
sexuality.

Many attitudes, perceptions, and concepts related to sexuality are socially constructed.

Sexual attitudes may include general beliefs about the norms of the culture, personal decisions
about when sex is permissible, and the perceived appropriateness of certain sexual behaviors

Gender is the widely shared set of expectations and norms linked to what should girls and boys
behave

In eastern countries marriage is a sacred institution.

Sex is a taboo and it is shameful to speak about openly with others.

Sex outside marriage is illegal and highly stigmatized socially,

Loss of virginity is disgraceful to family and brings shame and dishonor to whole family
members.

Information about premarital intimacy puts fidelity in question and may damage any planned
marriage especially for women.

The pressures to adhere to these norms may have negative consequences for both women and
men.

Girls may be forced to marry against their will. Females are exposed to FGM to be perceived by
society as an adult clean women.

Controlling girls and women's sexuality by early marriage may affect education and whether
girls are able to attend school.

In many societies, women are not allowed to discuss issues related to sex and sexuality.
This limits their ability to learn about risk reduction from STDs, negotiation for safe sex within
their sexual relationships.

Morals and attitudes toward sex are changing in eastern countries caused by economic
liberalization, modernization, exposure to media and delayed age of marriage and relaxation of
social control norms which allows for free interaction between males and females.

- Cultural background & respondents profile

Conservative and religious community in Delta

Dating is unacceptable

Sex education is not available in schools

QNR: self-administered, minimal personal data

Age: 18-25 years, medical students

Limitations: can’t be generalized

Social desirability bias: when respondents conceal their true opinion on a subject in order to
make themselves look good to others

- Gender differences in attitudes toward gender roles in sexual relationships

Females

Women should have less knowledge about sex

Sexually liberal women are not desirable wives

Women shouldn’t express their desire for sex

Rejected that men should have sexual relations to get experience

Males

Men should have experience to to teach their women

Having extramarital sexual relations was worse for women than men

Disagree that men should have an active role in sex while women be passive
LECTURE 11 - Gender Differences and similarities in the expression of love

Article 1 -

Method of testing: coding and analyzing Valentine’s announcements (also accross dating vs,
married partners)

- Gender differences in the expression of romantic emotions were investigated by

analyzing the content of 300 Valentine’s Day announcements
- The emotions studied were love, praise, commitment, and fidelity, as expressed by dating
and married individuals
- Women emphasized love and fidelity relatively more than men did
- Men emphasized praise and commitment relatively more than women did
- Empirical research on gender differences in emotional expressivity is extensive
- It has been suggested that women tend to express more positive emotions than men do,
such as companionate love, commitment, satisfaction, happiness, and surprise
- Studies have also indicated that men feel less comfortable than women do in expressing
vulnerable emotions, and men tend to suppress emotional displays despite evidence of
high physiological reactivity
- Women express love more frequently than men do
- One positive emotion that appears to be associated with men more than women is pride.
- The above research on emotional expressivity suggests that men may be more reluctant
than women are to express the emotion of love because it is an emotion that suggests
vulnerability.
- On the other hand, men may be more likely than women to praise their partner because it
is a way to express the pride they feel about their partner

Article 2 -

Method of testing: neural responses during computerized face processing task

- Participant diversity, including individual differences on characteristics such as culture,

ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, is an often-neglected aspect of research design that
must be taken into consideration when studying psychophysiological phenomena,
- Men and women differ on mean levels of emotional intelligence, amygdala laterality, and
the coupling of anxiety levels and error-related negativity amplitude
- Women tend to view interpersonal conflict with their partners as a threat to intimacy,
wheras men consider it to be a necessary part of the relationship
- Females tend to experience higher levels of threat sensitivity when relationship quality is
poor, indicating that women may be more inclined to feel that their relationships are
extensions of themselves and become highly distressed when there is turmoil within those
relationships.
 - Females devote more attention to partner’s faces

Article 3 -

Method of testing: gender stereotypes of emotions across the different subcultures of the
U.S.

- Gender stereotypes are inferences about the personal characteristics and behaviors
concerning males and females
- Studies of gender stereotypes have documented an array of domains in which women and
men are prescribed to behave differently
- Many gender differences in emotional behavior are stereotypes
- The belief that females are more emotional than males at a geeral level, without
distinguishing among specific emotions, has been one of the most enduring gender
stereotypes
- Theory about gender roles with respect to agency and communion suggests that gender
stereotypes are enmeshed with beliefs about the social roles that individuals occupy
- Gender stereotypes arise from beliefs about women and men who occupy traditional
gender roles.
- In most societies, women are more responsible for childcare, and men more responsible
for economic provision.
- Consistent with this, broad personality differences have been ascribed to each gender,
which suggest that women tend to be more communal and men more agentic.
LECTURE 12 - Conflict

Article 1 - Defining Partner Relational Problems in the Arab Region

ICD & DSM Definitions

• ICD-10: “discord between partners resulting in severe or prolonged loss of control, in

generalization of hostile or critical feelings or in persisting atmosphere of severe interpersonal
violence (hitting or striking).”

• DSM-IV: “a pattern of interaction between spouses or partners characterized by negative

communication, distorted communication, or non-communication that is associated with
clinically significant impairment of individual or family functioning or the development of
symptoms in one or both partners.”

Criticism to dsm definition:

• exclusive to communication; no empirical evidence

• very general, lack specificity

• focused on pathological patterns of couples interaction

• excludes non-symptomatic deficits such as lack of positive emotions and experiences

• Western perspective, lack applicability on Arab world (e.g. individualistic vs. collectivist
culture) – due to significant cultural differences

Background on Arab family, personality, couples

1) The Arab Family

- Individual-family interdependence is predominant in the Arab world due to ancestral

tribal heritage and is maintained by religious, sociopolitical, and economic factors
- Religious ideology, which greatly influences the everyday life of Arabs, encourages
interdependence with the family-of-origin
- The monotheist religions consider respecting and obeying parents as a religious duty
- Due to socio political and economic factors, Arab states do not provide their citizens with
basic governmental services, including individual-family interdependence.
- The family is responsible for the survival of its members and is the main source of social
and economic support
 - Financial dependency fosters psychological dependency
- Individuals choose to submit to the family’s will, norms, values, and aspirations so as not
to lose vital economic and social familial support

2) The Arab Personality

- Within this interdependent system, the boundary between the individual and the family or
social group is blurred
- Personality in the Arab world is best conceptualized as a collective construct that entails
external social factors as well as intrapsychic factors
- External cultural factors dominate intrapsychic factors and determine the behavior of
individuals in the Arab world
- External cultural factors are the main source of pressure in the lives of Arab individuals
- Thus, individuals often suffer from interpsychic rather than intrapsychic conflicts
- Given that authentic self-expression may lead to the loss of familial support and
alienations, Arabs mainly use three social mechanisms to cope with t hese external
demands: mosayra, istighaba, and identification with the opressor
- Istigighiba and mosayara, are complementary in that one does what the other prohibits
- Istighiba allows for the ventilation of emotions to nonjudgemental sources of support
- Mosayara entails hiding one’s true feelings and expressing what others would want to
hear
- Identification with the oppressor occurs when the individual justifies the family’s
oppressive act

3) Arab Couple

- In traditional settings, gender segregation and early marriages have been ways to ensure
celibacy and preserve women’s virginity
- In other less tradditional settings, where romantic rekationshps are allowed outside
marriage, close supervision of the couple by the family is undertaken to prevent sexual
activity
- Sex is a taboo

External Social Factors and the Well-Being of the Arab Couple

- Marriage is a family rather than an individual matter

- The extended family interferes with the choice of marital partner and may go as far as
arranging or focing a marriage between two individuals
- When marital problems arise, the extended family is the first to know
 - It intervenes immediately and tries to resolve the problem by suggesting solutions and
pressuring the couple to apply them
- In the case of severe marital difficulties, the upset wife goes back to her parents’ house
and relies on her extended family to take action, especially the male figures in the family
- Heavy involvement of the extended family in marital affairs may be stressful, especially
when the fife is not related to the family or does not have similar views concerning
marriage

Sources of conflict:

- Collectivist society
- Blurred boundaries between individual and family
- Extended family interference in couples issues
- Polygamy
- Societal discrimination
- Gendered expression of love
- Forced marriages, marriage of relatives, arranged marriages
- Multiple roles of married women
- Silent suffering for women
- Lack of sexual education and cicumcision

Categories of conflict - 5 categories of marital problems

1. Immature marriages
2. Depressed silent wives - somatic complaints
3. Educated unsatisfied women - discrepancy between expectations of wives vs. husbands
4. Break the silence after long time - seek divorce
5. Career women who are aware of problem; want to improve their lives and lack
independence and gender equality

Article 2 - Marital Problems among Arab Families: Between culture and family therapy
interventions

“Arab families do not go to a stranger to solve a marital, family, or psychological problem.”m

Reasons:

1) Specialists in such professions are rare in relation to the needs of the population
 2) Since the first psychiatric services to be offered to the Arab population resulted in the
hospitalizations of psychotic patients, the stereotype emerged that psychological served
are rendered to “crazy” people
3) Confusion of therapy with sheikhs, palm readers, fortune tellers,
4) The role of the extended family plays in the support and treatment of psychological,
marital, and family problems of its members. However, the extended family, in itself, is
also a source of all these problems.

Factors for family interference: Factors for this traditional influence on family

1) The monotheist religions educate their members in the obligation to respect and obey the
parents
2) Islam requires the parents to aid their offspring financially and psychologically for
marriage and to do this at an early age in order to discourage adultery and to maintain
modest lifetsyle. Therefore, the goal of working towards the marriage of their children
becomes a norm and the marriage of the offspring marks the self-actualization and
success of the parents
3) Difficult economic situation contributes to institutionalizing the extended family pattern
in modern times as in the past
4) The structure of arab culture ensures that the society is part of the everyday life of the
individual
5) Transition period between traditionalism and modernism
6) Some western ideologies adopted (knowing the person before getting married)
7) Difference in status between men & women. Based on this there are functions expected
of the wife and of the husband. Proud parents strive to marry their sons, making it one of
their central aims in life However, they hope that there will be someone to ask for their
daughter’s hand in marriage. In order to realize such a destiny, the family pressures
young females into marriage at an early age
8) More acceptance for males to go against the norms, in comparison to women

Publicizing marital conflict

- Wife leaves the house and involves extended family

- Psychological implications for wife:
-Stress relief from carrying the burden alone
-More time devoted for conflict resolution rather than spending time hiding the problem
-Society’s blaming the wife for failure to maintain the marriage: affects self-conficence
-When family welcomes the wife and offer support: regains self confidence and sense of security

Za’lana
 - Arab tradition allows the married woman to leave her home and her children and return
to her parents’ house announcing that she is “upset”
- This step transfers the problem from the private zone to the public zone
- Does not promote the politics of the Mastura “silent/respectable woman:
- This announcement of marital conflicts outside the familiar realm points to the role of the
husband as contributing to the conflict and clears the conscience of the wife of the
responsibility
- The announcement of the wife as Z’alana, generates rumors and stories about the private
life of the couple.
- It serves to relieve the psychological stress that is caused by suppressing a large problem
for a long time.

Social legitimacy on legitimacy of “upset” depends on:

1) Reasons for marital problems

2) History of marital problems
3) Previous solutions tried by the couple

- Family’s rejection to support their upset daughter has problematic and psychological
implications
- Sometimes force couple to live back together without solving the root causes of problems

Psychological implications on children’s mental health:

• Resistance of parents to seek child counseling

• Fight to win children’s loyality

• Use custody of children or financial needed to pressure other parnters • Ignoring children’s
needs

• Traumatic transfer of children from their home & stable family life

• State of war at home

• Older children taking care of younger children

• State of emergency

• Early sense of responsibility, heavy demands that it not age appropriate

Why do couples resort to therapy?

1. Loss of confidence in extended family’s ability

2. Detachment from extended family
3. Modernization
4. Police report for abuse; lawyers request
5. One of partners imposing marital improvement conditional on therapy

Family Therapy: Expectations vs. Reality

Some couples expect therapy to be an extended role of family interventions:

- Throwing blames
- Making judgments
- Offering quick fixes

Family Therapists should also engage extended family members (when appropriate) to gain
acceptance & alliance:

Psychoeducational role of therapists such as:

- Peaceful divorce concept

- Help extended family members to play an active role in maintaining peace (even after
divorce)
- Educated on the importance of psychological health or all family members including
children