IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socpsy/v52y2006i1p5-17.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Comparison of Family Functioning, Life and Marital Satisfaction, and Mental Health of Women in Polygamous and Monogamous Marriages

Author

Listed:
  • Alean Al-Krenawi

    (Spitzer Department of Social Work, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box 653, Beer Sheva 84105, Israelalean@bgumail.bgu.ac.il)

  • John R. Graham

    (University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada)

Abstract

Background : A considerable body of research concludes that the polygamous family structure has an impact on children's and wives’ psychological, social and family functioning. Aims : The present study is among the first to consider within the same ethnoracial community such essential factors as family functioning, life satisfaction, marital satisfaction and mental health functioning among women who are in polygamous marriages and women who are in monogamous marriages. Method : A sample of 352 Bedouin-Arab women participated in this study: 235 (67%) were in a monogamous marriage and 117 (33%) were in a polygamous marriage. Results : Findings reveal differences between women in polygamous and monogamous marriages. Women in polygamous marriages showed significantly higher psychological distress, and higher levels of somatisation, phobia and other psychological problems. They also had significantly more problems in family functioning, marital relationships and life satisfaction. Conclusion : The article calls on public policy and social service personnel to increase public awareness of the significance of polygamous family structures for women's wellbeing.

Suggested Citation

  • Alean Al-Krenawi & John R. Graham, 2006. "A Comparison of Family Functioning, Life and Marital Satisfaction, and Mental Health of Women in Polygamous and Monogamous Marriages," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 52(1), pages 5-17, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:52:y:2006:i:1:p:5-17
    DOI: 10.1177/00207640060061245
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00207640060061245
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/00207640060061245?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kazianga, Harounan & Klonner, Stefan, 2009. "The Intra-household Economics of Polygyny: Fertility and Child Mortality in Rural Mali," MPRA Paper 12859, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Owoo, Nkechi S. & Upton, Joanna & Bageant, Elizabeth, 2017. "Food Insecurity and Family Structure in Nigeria," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258469, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:52:y:2006:i:1:p:5-17. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.