Introduction
Marriage entails a union that establishes a lasting affiliation between two partners and remains significant in guiding people’s lives. To realize a prosperous matrimonial life, an individual should choose an appropriate partner and sustain the relations by showing acceptance and understanding. Individuals select to marry for various reasons encompassing, love, wish to fulfill expectations, desire for children, companionship, physical attraction, and happiness (Parkin 273). Whereas the option of a marital partner is key when engaging in marriage, there are various standards when selecting a companion. Selecting a spouse can be attained through an arranged marriage or loving the identified person.
Recognizing the form of marriage that encourages the needs of modern societies is essential to enhancing family well-being. Both types of marriages have disadvantages and advantages and individuals have to navigate the challenges. Love marriages entail scenarios where partners are free to choose companions they feel compatible with while having ample time to know each other before settling on a marriage (Mohammadi 1). Contrarily, arranged marriages form a situation where individuals find themselves in union with a third-party chosen person based on family status, wealth, or other existing criteria (Sethi and Reiter 8). An arranged union comprises two persons who know less about the other partner before entering a marriage. Such a situation greatly impacts the quality of union, especially those in an arranged marriage. Factors such as commitment, intimacy, passion, and marital satisfaction viewed through the lens of human ecology and family development theories explain the less successful nature of arranged marriages.
Statement of Problem
Marital success is an essential, significant, and desirable area in human life. It permits the human and natural development of the community by establishing family units. Besides the influence on societal growth, marriages of better quality show a significant effect on the health, productivity, and life satisfaction of individuals. Enhanced marital quality is related to reduced depression, improved self-rated health, as well as reduced physical illness. Therefore, it is less surprising that troubled unions result in more vulnerability to stressful conditions among unions. Despite the need to improve the quality of marital relationships, inadequate literature has been performed to establish why arranged marriages are less successful than love marriages. Essentially, at the core of family studies should be the urge to foster unions that support the community. Consequently, this research attempts to establish why arranged marriages are less successful compared to love unions with a view of enhancing marital associations to strengthen the family unit.
Purpose Statement
This research aims to establish the reasons why arranged marriages are less successful when compared to love unions in the realms of commitment, passion, intimacy, and marital satisfaction. Marriage satisfaction is a key element of marital success since it impacts an individual’s health and well-being. A successful marriage is linked to constructive life outcomes, encompassing, less physical illness, reduced depression, and improved self-rated well-being. Therefore, marriage satisfaction entails several good aspects of a marital relationship. The research is key since it establishes factors for low success in arranged marriages, which in turn sensitizes people on the best choice for an informed decision. Moreover, it may also help counselors, religious groups, policymakers, and other stakeholders to suggest the appropriate union for better societal and individual outcomes.
Theoretical Framework
Human ecology theory and the family development model provide relevant theoretical frameworks to effectively come up with well-argued research about the topic at hand. The human ecology model provides a method for explaining the interactions of human conduct within the frameworks where they occur and their connections as a structure (Karimov 40). The biological, physical, and social aspects of a person form part of the environment and impact arranged or love marriages. Human ecology theory is key in investigating the idea of marriage since it explains changes as a family transforms through successive phases. The main premise of this concept is that families interrelate with diverse environments to establish an ecosystem and that the surroundings and family are interdependent. Another supposition in this theory is that the major control system for families is the act of decision-making since this guide suitable actions to realize individual and family goals.
The family development model explains the various aspects of growth that happen within the lifespan of a family unit. It also assesses the numerous systematic and patterned changes that families encounter over the generations. Families shift into new phases of growth anchored in the time that lapsed from their existing phase of maturation. For example, newlywed partners might allow a tuning time to lapse before agreeing to get a child. Therefore, based on this model, social norms usually direct the conduct of families at various phases of development.
Marital Concepts That Make Arranged Marriages Less Successful
Marital Satisfaction
Marital satisfaction shows the extent to which a partner in a union is satisfied with the marital relationship. Human ecology theory remains relevant in explaining this aspect of the union since partners in a union conduct various roles such as biological sustenance, economic maintenance, and nurturance with the bid to improve satisfaction levels in marriage. In arranged marriages, initial satisfaction may be reduced because partners might not have physical and emotional attraction since they did not have the chance to choose a compatible spouse (Raina and Maiti 102). However, loved marriages show a higher satisfaction level since partners select their spouses and establish a dedicated marriage with one another.
Intimacy
Intimacy signifies the emotional and sexual relationship between spouses in a relationship. In numerous affairs, intimacy grows over time because emotional sexual association increases as individuals develop relations. Based on human ecology theory, people enhance intimacy over a period to sustain biological processes like economic and reproduction stability that is required to meet the needs of the family. Arranged marriages demonstrate low amounts of intimacy since individuals might not be attuned to one another (Thapa and Kattel 7). When someone else chooses for you a partner as seen in arranged marriages, the marital connections might have low amounts of emotional and sexual connections.
Commitment
Interpersonal relations that result from a mutually agreed dedication include values such as openness, honesty, love, and trust. The human ecology model explains the concept of commitment in a marriage. Spouses may pursue commitment that furthers economic, biological, and social goals. However, arranged relationships might have a low level of commitment since partners may feel pressured to enter such a union despite not having a physical and emotional connection (Mohammadi 3). Other factors such as communication and happiness are generally low in arranged marriages when examined under the lens of family development theory.
Conclusion
In conclusion, family development and human ecology theories play an integral role in showing why arranged marriages are less successful than love marriages. The research shows that arranged marriages feature low levels of emotional and physical connection and this may influence happiness, intimacy, commitment, and satisfaction in couples. Therefore, to realize a prosperous married life, an individual should choose a compatible partner and sustain the relationship by showing acceptance and understanding.
Works Cited
Karimov, Ulmasbek. “Scientific and Theoretical Foundations of the Formation of the Social Environment in the Family.” Oriental Journal of Social Sciences, Vol.1, no. 1, 2021, pp. 37-40.
Mohammadi, Leza, K. The levels of satisfaction between love and arranged marriages: A comparative study. 2019. Texas Woman’s University, PhD Dissertation.
Parkin, Robert. “Arranged Marriages: Whose Choice and Why? Reflections on The Principles Underlying Spouse Selection Worldwide.” History and Anthropology, Vol. 32, no. 2, 2021, pp. 271-287.
Raina, Priya, and Maity, Tiasa. “An Empirical Study on Marital Satisfaction Between Arranged and Self Marriage Couples in Bangalore.” International Journal of Indian Psychology, Vol. 6, no. 1, 2018, pp. 101-108.
Sethi, Karika, and Reiter, Michael. “Arranged Marriages: An Inappropriate Fabrication.” Mako: NSU Undergraduate Student Journal, Vol. 2020, no. 1, 2020, pp. 1-10.
Thapa, Babu, and Kattel, Shambhu. “Impact of Modernization on Family and Marriage System of Nepal.” World Wide Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development, Vol. 5, no. 12, 2019, pp. 6-9.