Marriage and Communication in Intimate Relationship

MARRIAGE AND COMMUNICATION IN INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS
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MARRIAGE AND COMMUNICATION IN INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS
Describe contemporary marriage variations in the United States and other countries.
The three influential typologies that describe contemporary marriages include Olson and Fowers, Cuber and Haroff, and Gottman. Among all the classifications, they portray the various marriage types and satisfaction levels in the marriages. They highlight which types of marital relationships are likely to survive compared to those likely to end in a divorce. As emphasized by the survey, all the typologies are essential in portraying the different marital relationships and marriages. However, the typologies exhibit variant limitations in their studies. First, findings cannot be generalized and are biased since the survey premised on middle and upper-middle-class couples in therapy and predominantly white couples. The survey samples did not reflect the typical U.S married demographic. Furthermore, in all the studies, there is an overlap in the couple's attributes. For example, conflict-habituated couples in Cuber and Haroff typology may similarly be devitalized, and vital marriages may morph into passive-congenial.
In the United States, both Same-Sex (gay) and Opposite-Sex (heterosexual) marriages are widely practiced and legally recognized. There are public acceptance and tolerance to gay marriages in the U.S. However, in other countries, Opposite-Sex marriage is the type predominantly accepted and legalized. Same-Sex marriages in other countries are frowned upon, and there is widespread opposition by the governments and citizens. Additionally, in other countries, arranged or semi-arranged marriages are usually the norm and further differ culturally.
In contrast, U.S. marriages are typically determined by the couples` decisions. Couples in the U.S. get into marriage agreements without the influence of other parties deriving motivation from love, social, cultural, religious, economic, or political factors. Of similarity, contemporary marriage variation in the United States and other countries is the "living apart together" (LAT) marriage arrangements. Personal or economic reasons usually dictate the LAT relationships. It involves couples coming into an agreement to live in different houses but are still legally married. It might be for economic reasons like in China and Belgium or social and personal reasons like in some Scandinavian countries and the United States.
Explain how marital happiness, marital success, and health are interrelated.
Marital happiness usually results in a healthy and successful marriage. At the same time, the marital success that encompasses marital happiness and health is measured in marital satisfaction and stability. Satisfaction in marriage designates whether each partner views marriage as good or bad. On the other hand, stability measures a marriage's intactness level (Holman et al., 1994; Noller and Fitzpatrick, 1993). Various factors like education, marriage age, and couples' economic capability contribute to marital well-being and success.
Married people tend to be overly healthier than unmarried people, as explained by two main sociological illustrations-protection and selection effects. The selection effect posits that healthy people are attracted to equally healthy partners; therefore, married people become healthier than unmarried counterparts. It further elaborates that healthy people are often friendly and happier before marriage and repel those with severe psychological and physical problems and those with drug addiction problems (Stutzer and Frey, 2006; Silventoinen et al., 2013; Braithwaite and Holt-Junstand, 2017). Thus, in the process, marriages end up with only healthy couples due to the selection effect, more so like natural selection. Some researchers argue that the protection effect dubbed "marriage advantage" makes couples healthier than unmarried mates. The protection effect stresses physical, financial, and emotional support from a spouse enhances one's general health and longevity by preventing or limiting depression, anxiety and improving psychological fitness (Frech and Williams, 2007; Proulx et al., 2007; Proulx and Snyder-Rivas, 2013). Through the protection effect, marriage encourages healthy habits and reduces risky activities earning married couples a healthier life than their unmarried counterparts.
The interrelationship between marital happiness, success, and health is achievable through numerous variables like flexibility, positive attitudes, compatibility, emotional support, and communication. A national survey and some researchers identified communication as the sole marital satisfaction attribute. Among the 90% of happily married couples were satisfied with how they communicated to each other, compared to a measly 15% of the unhappily married ones. Hence, communication is vital in our daily lives, specifically in conflict resolution (National survey of marital strengths, 1999; Kamp Dush et al., 2012). Therefore, happiness in marriage equals marital health since couples will freely discuss their physical or mental health problems based on age and gender, and address them conclusively, hence achieving marital success. Married people usually report the highest percentage of well-being, while in marriage, women report the lowest health well-being compared to men
Describe how couples establish, negotiate, and learn marital roles.
Marital roles refer to the explicit ways that married couples structure their time and define their behaviors. Numerous people usually construe unrealistic and idealized marriage images way before they meet their partners. Despite the different expectations and intentions, house chores have always been gender-based after marriage (Miller and Carlson, 2016). It is, therefore, important that partners establish, negotiate, and learn marital roles, especially during their first year of marriage. Partners usually negotiate adjustments to their new married roles in a process called identity bargaining (Blumstein, 1975).
The method of establishing, negotiating, and learning marital roles typically comprises three steps. First, each of the couples must identify with the roles they are undertaking. No one should prioritize their role as more important than the other. Besides, the couples need to learn to treat each other as a spouse. Understandably, transitioning from a single to married life is usually not a simple task as it requires an almost complete overhaul in one's behavior and attitudes. Couples may need to drop some of their hobbies with friends, dedicate more time to the marriage, and make collective deliberations on issues. Finally, married couples must negotiate changes in their newly acquired roles and establish boundaries between family members and the union. Here, both parties should compromise in performing specific functions even to one's disliking because, in the end, either of them must accomplish the chore. For example, there should be a consensus on who does housework, pays bills, maintains cars, does the grocery shopping, or any other task to avert conflict and resentment. In establishing and learning the new roles, negotiation should include a shift from some of the "I" to "we" in decision-making. The collective thinking process prevents identity conflict creation for persons who might feel like they are losing their identity sense (Akhtar and Billinkoff, 2011; Archuleta, 2013; Soulsby and Bennett, 2017). Moreover, in establishing boundaries, couples need to shift prime loyalty from...