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Nihon Eiseigaku Zasshi. Japanese... 2018The factors contributing to the declining birthrate in Japan include the declining marriage rate, an increase in the average age of those getting married, economic... (Review)
Review
The factors contributing to the declining birthrate in Japan include the declining marriage rate, an increase in the average age of those getting married, economic burden, childcare burden, later child-bearing, and infertility. There is a gender difference in role division, with 70% of unmarried people live with their parents and continue to work while leaving the household chores to their mothers. The loss of these housekeeping services and the increase in the number of irregular workers are factors contributing to the declining marriage rate and the increase in the average age of those getting married. The expansion of the family support policy in Japan from the male breadwinner model to the earner-career model may have been delayed, but it is expected to provide economic benefits as well as actual childcare service benefits in order to reduce the economic and physical burden of childcare for married couples. It is also necessary to provide education in reproductive health to both men and women in schools and workplaces regarding late child-bearing and infertility. Furthermore, it is necessary to evaluate the cost-effectiveness analysis of improvements in fertility and disclose the relevant information in addition to sharing information on medical technology related to pregnancy/childbirth and treatment of diseases. It is urgent to prepare society for natural and healthy pregnancies/childbirths during optimal child-bearing years.
Topics: Adult; Age Factors; Birth Rate; Child; Child Care; Female; Gender Identity; Health Education; Humans; Income; Infertility; Japan; Male; Marriage; Middle Aged; Population Dynamics; Reproductive Health; Social Support; Socioeconomic Factors; Young Adult
PubMed: 30270298
DOI: 10.1265/jjh.73.305 -
Archives of Women's Mental Health Apr 2020Researchers agree that early marriage (EM) and adolescent pregnancy (AP) can form severe risks for women's somatic, mental, and reproductive health, as well as on...
Researchers agree that early marriage (EM) and adolescent pregnancy (AP) can form severe risks for women's somatic, mental, and reproductive health, as well as on educational and social status. Yet, less is known about factors that may moderate or mediate these associations. This study examined, first, retrospectively the impacts of EM and AP on self-reported mental and somatic health among multicultural group of women living in Eastern Anatolia, Turkey. Second task was to analyze whether and how the partner violence would mediate and/or moderate between EM and AP and mental health problems. The participants were 1569 women (16-72 years of age), who reported their age of being married, first pregnancy, and demographic characteristics. They described their mental health status through General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28: depressive, anxiety, social dysfunction, and somatization symptoms) and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; DSM-5). Women's reports of somatic illnesses were classified according to WHO-ICD-10. The revised conflict tactics scale, short form was used as a proxy to partner violence. Women who gave birth at 13-19 years of age reported more anxiety and somatization symptoms than later delivered, and those married younger than 25 showed a higher level of depressive symptoms than later married. Both AP and EM formed a heightened risk for somatic illnesses. The partner violence functioned as a moderator; AP was associated with especially high levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms among women exposed to sexual coercion in their marriage. Non-significant mediation analysis indicates that partner violence did not explain the severe impacts of the AP and EM on women's mental health. Yet, the AP and EM were associated with heightened level of partner violence. Adolescent pregnancy forms a comprehensive mental health risk, and both AP and EM were risks for somatic illnesses, such as cardiovascular problems. The mental health risk of AP further intensified if women experienced sexual coercion in their partnership. Our fundamental work is to abolish these patriarchal phenomena.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Female; Humans; Marriage; Mental Disorders; Middle Aged; Pregnancy; Pregnancy in Adolescence; Retrospective Studies; Risk Factors; Sex Offenses; Spouse Abuse; Surveys and Questionnaires; Turkey; Women's Health; Young Adult
PubMed: 30955087
DOI: 10.1007/s00737-019-00960-w -
Annual Review of Psychology Jan 2021The ways that couples form and manage their intimate relationships at higher and lower levels of socioeconomic status (SES) have been diverging steadily over the past... (Review)
Review
The ways that couples form and manage their intimate relationships at higher and lower levels of socioeconomic status (SES) have been diverging steadily over the past several decades. At higher SES levels, couples postpone marriage and childbirth to invest in education and careers, but they eventually marry at high rates and have relatively low risk for divorce. At lower SES levels, couples are more likely to cohabit and give birth prior to marriage and less likely to marry at all. This review examines how SES comes to be associated with the formation, development, and dissolution of intimate relationships. Overall, research has highlighted how a couple's socioeconomic context facilitates some choices and constrains others, resulting in different capacities for relationship maintenance and different adaptive mating strategies for more and less advantaged couples. A generalizable relationship science requires research that acknowledges these differences and one that recruits, describes, and attends to socioeconomic diversity across couples.
Topics: Divorce; Educational Status; Female; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Male; Marriage; Sexual Behavior; Sexual Partners; Social Class; Spouses
PubMed: 32886585
DOI: 10.1146/annurev-psych-051920-013658 -
Proceedings of the National Academy of... Aug 2022Marital attachment plays an important role in maintaining intimate personal relationships and sustaining psychological well-being. Mate-selection theories suggest that...
Marital attachment plays an important role in maintaining intimate personal relationships and sustaining psychological well-being. Mate-selection theories suggest that people are more likely to marry someone with a similar personality and social status, yet evidence for the association between personality-based couple similarity measures and marital satisfaction has been inconsistent. A more direct and useful approach for understanding fundamental processes underlying marital satisfaction is to probe similarity of dynamic brain responses to maritally and socially relevant communicative cues, which may better reflect how married couples process information in real time and make sense of their mates and themselves. Here, we investigate shared neural representations based on intersubject synchronization (ISS) of brain responses during free viewing of marital life-related, and nonmarital, object-related movies. Compared to randomly selected pairs of couples, married couples showed significantly higher levels of ISS during viewing of marital movies and ISS between married couples predicted higher levels of marital satisfaction. ISS in the default mode network emerged as a strong predictor of marital satisfaction and canonical correlation analysis revealed a specific relation between ISS in this network and shared communication and egalitarian components of martial satisfaction. Our findings demonstrate that brain similarities that reflect real-time mental responses to subjective perceptions, thoughts, and feelings about interpersonal and social interactions are strong predictors of marital satisfaction, reflecting shared values and beliefs. Our study advances foundational knowledge of the neurobiological basis of human pair bonding.
Topics: Brain; Communication; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Marriage; Personal Satisfaction; Personality; Spouses
PubMed: 35981139
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2202515119 -
Journal of Personality Feb 2018Theory and research have emphasized the impact of life events on personality trait change. In this article, we review prospective research on personality trait change in... (Review)
Review
OBJECTIVE
Theory and research have emphasized the impact of life events on personality trait change. In this article, we review prospective research on personality trait change in response to nine major life events in the broader domains of love and work.
METHOD
We expected to find that life events lead to personality trait change to the extent that they have a lasting influence on individuals' thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Moreover, we predicted that love-related life events such as marriage or parenthood would be more strongly related to changes in traits that emphasize affective content, whereas work-related life events would be more likely to lead to change in traits that reflect behavioral or cognitive content.
RESULTS
The current state of research provided some evidence that life events can lead to changes in personality traits and that different life events may be differently related to specific trait domains.
CONCLUSIONS
A more general conclusion emerging from this review is that the evidence for the nature, shape, and timing of personality trait change in response to life events is still preliminary. We discuss the implications of the results for theory and research and provide directions for future studies on life events and personality trait change.
Topics: Humans; Life Change Events; Marriage; Parenting; Personality; Psychological Theory; Retirement; Work
PubMed: 27716921
DOI: 10.1111/jopy.12286 -
Psychology and Aging Nov 2020Beliefs about aging are grounded in social experience. This study considered the extent to which married older adults' shared beliefs about aging and markers of aging...
Beliefs about aging are grounded in social experience. This study considered the extent to which married older adults' shared beliefs about aging and markers of aging maintain a concurrent and enduring association with their partners' beliefs about and markers of aging. Data from the 2010/2012 and 2014/2016 waves of the Health and Retirement Study provided measures of husbands' and wives' (3,779 couples) positive and negative beliefs about aging and internal (Cystatin C) and external (grip strength) markers of aging at 2 time points. Latent dyadic models parsed beliefs and markers into partners' individual and shared variances, which were connected both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Longitudinal analysis showed that the cross-sectional associations between shared beliefs and markers of aging were stable over 4 years. Partners' shared beliefs and markers of aging were found to have enduring associations with each other over time. The enduring association between grip strength and future negative beliefs remained significant after accounting for partner selection and similarity in health. Model comparisons across marriage duration and emotional closeness showed partners' beliefs to be more similar in marriages that were either long established or emotionally close. In all groups, shared beliefs and markers of aging were associated with each other over time. The association between positive beliefs and future grip strength was stronger in long-established than in recent marriages. In summary, this study provides evidence that, within older couples, beliefs about aging are shaped in part through experiences of aging together. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
Topics: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aging; Cross-Sectional Studies; Culture; Female; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Marriage; Middle Aged; Spouses
PubMed: 32525338
DOI: 10.1037/pag0000515 -
International Journal of Environmental... Apr 2022Loneliness has been recognised as a major public health concern in older adults in developed nations, with little focus on low- and middle-income countries such as...
BACKGROUND
Loneliness has been recognised as a major public health concern in older adults in developed nations, with little focus on low- and middle-income countries such as India. While the protective nature of social relationships on loneliness has been explored in the context of marriage, typically these benefits are examined in individual spouses rather than within the marital dyad.
METHODS
A sample of 398 opposite-sex married Indian couples (mean age 54.8 years) was obtained from the pilot wave of the Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI) conducted in 2010. These cross-sectional data were analysed using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model, with one's own and one's partner's cognitive function, functional limitations, depressive symptoms, employment status and contact with friends included as predictors of loneliness.
RESULTS
There were no gender differences in the pattern of associations. Depression was positively associated with loneliness with actor and partner effects being significant. One's partner being employed was associated with less loneliness.
CONCLUSIONS
The sample showed low levels of depression, loneliness, and reduced functionality; however, depression still predicted one's own and one's partner's loneliness. Future work using longitudinal data could examine the role of employment in loneliness, particularly within the context of gender roles.
Topics: Aged; Cross-Sectional Studies; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Loneliness; Marriage; Middle Aged; Spouses
PubMed: 35564697
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19095302 -
The New England Journal of Medicine May 2015
Topics: Female; Homosexuality, Female; Homosexuality, Male; Humans; Male; Marriage; Supreme Court Decisions; United States
PubMed: 25902382
DOI: 10.1056/NEJMe1505179 -
Reproductive Health Jun 2021Child marriage is a fundamental violation of human rights and a threat to access to education, sexual and reproductive health care, and employment. It also threatens...
Child marriage is a fundamental violation of human rights and a threat to access to education, sexual and reproductive health care, and employment. It also threatens freedom from violence, reproductive rights, movement, and the right to consensual marriage. In most countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the legal age of marriage is 18 years. Hence, girls who marry before 18 years are considered as victims of child marriage. Closely knitted to legal age for marriage is the issue of age for sexual consent, which refers to the minimum age at which a person is considered to have the legal capacity to consent to sexual intercourse. While there seem to be a standard legal age for marriage, the legal age for sexual consent varies in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa and is often lower than the legal age of marriage. In this commentary, we argue that the gap between the legal age of sexual consent and marriage partly accounts for some of the sexual and reproductive health challenges such as intimate partner violence, sexually transmitted infections, adolescent pregnancy, early childbirth, including unsafe abortions among adolescent girls in sub-Saharan Africa and infringements on their sexual and reproductive health rights. This commentary highlights strategic potential interventions that could help address the identified gaps. We argue that aligning the age for sexual consent and marriage is not the solution to the problem. However, what is critical is the education of young people about sexual and reproductive health issues and comprehensive sexuality education through advocacy networks at the national and local levels. Thus, the key is to provide accurate, timely, and non-judgmental sexual and reproductive health and rights information to young people irrespective of the prevailing age of consent. This provision will empower them to make informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive health.
Topics: Adolescent; Africa South of the Sahara; Child; Female; Health Services Accessibility; Human Rights; Humans; Marriage; Pregnancy; Reproductive Health; Sexual Behavior
PubMed: 34154598
DOI: 10.1186/s12978-021-01177-w -
Studies in Family Planning Sep 2020Despite an extensive literature on the psychological rewards of marriage and children in high-income countries, research on these relationships in low-income countries...
Despite an extensive literature on the psychological rewards of marriage and children in high-income countries, research on these relationships in low-income countries remains limited. This paper draws on data from 4,133 adult women and men interviewed in the Malawi Longitudinal Study of Families and Health to examine how marital status, categorized as never, formerly, monogamously, and polygynously married, and number of children are associated with psychological well-being. With respect to marital status, we find that women in polygynous unions fare worse than monogamously married women and this detrimental effect is stronger for women than for men. Formerly married men and women of reproductive age experience the worst psychological outcomes, although this association wanes with age. In contrast, the benefits of having children is only evident among older Malawian women. These findings offer novel insights into the patterns of nearly universal marriage and high fertility that characterize Malawi and much of sub-Saharan Africa.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Age Factors; Family; Family Characteristics; Female; Hospitals, Psychiatric; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Malawi; Male; Marriage; Middle Aged; Parity; Sex Factors; Socioeconomic Factors; Young Adult
PubMed: 32720321
DOI: 10.1111/sifp.12133