Peculiarities of family roles distribution in the marrige subsystem

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Peculiarities of family roles distribution in the marrige subsystem

Oliinyk O.O.

Abstract

Changing the system of family values, views of the society on the significance and functioning of the family institution contribute to the transformation of marital role relationships in modern families. The already formed model of role interaction, the ability of spouses to define and clearly distribute family roles and to treat them responsibly is the important factors in building constructive marital relations and creating a favorable psychological climate in the family. Objective. The research deals with the analysis of the essence of the “family role" concept and the classification of family roles; experimental definition and analysis of the main types of family roles in marital relations. Methods. Theoretical research methods were used to solve the research problem: analysis of scientific psychological literature, generalization method, systematization of scientific information. To solve the second part of the set objective, the empirical research methods were used, such as: conversation, psychodiagnostic method “Distribution of roles in the family" by Yu.Ye. Alioshyna, L.Ya. Hofman, O. M. Dubrovska, and also the method of processing and quantitative and qualitative interpretation of results. The research was conducted during September-October 2020. The study involved 11 married couples (husband and wife) with different marital experience of 22 people aged 25 to 47 years (Kyiv). All the couples have children aged 1 to 20 years. The results of an empirical study of the peculiarities of family roles distribution showed that the roles of entertainment organizer (63.64%), master (mistress), (72.73% and 63.64%), the family subculture organizer (54, 55% and 45.45%) women and men share almost equally; the roles of educator and “psychotherapist" is more typical for women (90.91% and 81.82%); The role of sexual partner and the partner responsible for material support is more often performed by men (90.91% and 72.73%). The prospects for further research are seen in the study of role interaction in the parental families of adolescents and young people as a prerequisite for their future family roles.

Keywords: family, family roles, spouses, family and role relationships, emotional atmosphere in the family.

Анотація

Особливості розподілу сімейних ролей в подружній підсистемі

Олійник О.О., кандидат психологічних наук, доцент кафедри психології, Національний університет біоресурсів і природокористування України

Зміна системи сімейних цінностей, поглядів суспільства на значущість та функціонування інституту сім'ї сприяють трансформації рольових відносин подружжя у сучасних сім'ях. Сформована модель рольової взаємодії, здатність подружжя визначати й чітко розподіляти сімейні ролі та відповідально ставитись до їх виконання є важливими факторами побудови конструктивних подружніх стосунків і створення сприятливого психологічного клімату в сім'ї. Мета. Дослідження пов'язане з аналізом сутності поняття «сімейна роль» та класифікацією сімейних ролей; експериментальним визначенням та аналізом основних видів сімейних ролей в подружніх стосунках. Методи. Для розв'язання дослідницької проблеми було використано теоретичні методи дослідження: аналіз наукової психологічної літератури, узагальнення, систематизація наукової інформації. Для розв'язання другої частини поставленої мети застосовувались емпіричні методи дослідження: бесіда, психодіагностична методика «Розподіл ролей у сім'ї» Ю. Є. Альошиної, Л. Я. Гофмана, О. М. Дубровської; обробки та кількісної і якісної інтерпретації результатів. Дослідження проводилось протягом вересня-жовтня 2020 р. У дослідженні брали участь 11 сімейних пар (чоловік і дружина) з різним досвідом подружнього життя у кількості 22 осіб віком від 25 до 47 років (м. Київ). Всі пари мають дітей віком від 1 до 20 років. Результати емпіричного дослідження особливостей розподілу сімейних ролей показав, що ролі організатора розваг (63,64%), господаря/господині (72,73% та 63,64%), організатора сімейної субкультури (54,55% та 45,45%) жінки й чоловіки майже порівну ділять між собою; виконання ролей вихователя і «психотерапевта» більше притаманно жінкам (90,91% та 81,82%); роль сексуального партнера та відповідального за матеріальне забезпечення частіше виконують чоловіки (90,91% та 72,73%). Перспективи подальших розробок вбачаємо в дослідженні рольової взаємодії в батьківських сім'ях підлітків та юнаків як передумови формування їх майбутніх сімейних ролей.

Ключові слова: сім'я, сімейні ролі, подружжя, сімейно-рольові взаємини, емоційна атмосфера в сім'ї.

Urgency of the research

family roles marrige

An important place in society is occupied by the problem of distribution of roles in the family, the choice of each family's own model of role interaction, responsible attitude of family members to their roles. In recent decades, stereotypes about role behavior in the family have been challenged. Instead, there is a radical change in women's and men's roles, more and more men go on maternity leave, are engaged in housekeeping and upbringing of children, women are more likely to be responsible for the family, are the leaders in the professional sphere and personal life. As a result, the old social norms of family life have been destroyed, and there are no new generally accepted rules and obligations regarding the division of family roles and their impact on marital relations. More and more families develop their own rules and laws of family-role relationships, meeting with the misunderstanding and uncertainty of their own role and its implementation, the distortion of the system of family values, the inconsistency of family roles. This causes the deterioration of family and marital relations, which often leads to conflict situations and even divorce. Thus, the already formed models of role interaction, the ability of spouses to define and clearly distribute family roles and to treat them responsibly are important factors in developing constructive marital relations and creating a favorable psychological climate in the family.

Analysis of recent research and publications

The theoretical analysis of modern research on the family roles, the peculiarities of their distribution to spouses allows us to identify a number of factors influencing the choice of spouses' family roles (education, experience of family life, individual typological features) [2]. Researchers identify different criteria for classifying the family roles. Thus, in view of the marital and family status, the formal roles, and in view of the family functions - the functional family roles are determined [6, p. 26-27]. A detailed description of the types of family roles, including such: traditional, sociable, partner roles, is given [7] . The results of the domestic psychologists' research have identified the following family roles of spouses: friend, master (mistress), breadwinner, sexual partner, the implementation of which leads to the needs of spouses (household, material security, sexual, mutual support) [8]. Foreign psychotherapists have developed a classification of destructive family roles [5].

In modern research, due attention is paid to the analysis of the compliance of social roles of marriage partners to the family functions [4, p. 44]. Thus, the educational function in its specificity corresponds to the family role of “Educator”. The role of sexual partner "is aimed at meeting the sexual needs of the partner and procreation” and corresponds to reproductive and sexual functions [4, p. 44-45]. Also due attention is paid to the study of the characteristics of the influence of role expectations on the satisfaction of each spouse with their marriage [3]. Accordingly, a thorough analysis of the scientific literature, the study of the types of family roles and the peculiarities of their distribution between spouses will help to improve intra-family regulation of marital relations.

Research objective

To analyze the essence of the concept of “family role” and the classification of family roles; to experimentally identify and analyze the main types of family roles and the degree of their coherence in marital relations.

Materials and methods of research. To solve the research problem, we used such theoretical research methods as: analysis of scientific psychological literature, generalization, systematization of scientific information. To solve the second part of the objective, the empirical research methods were used, namely: conversation, psychodiagnostic method “Distribution of roles in the family” by Yu. Ye. Alioshyna, L. Ya. Hofman, O. M. Dubrovska; processing and quantitative and qualitative interpretation of results.

Presentation of basic material of the research. As it is known, the family is one of the subsystems of society, which is closely related to other social communities [3, p. 365]. “Family is a small social group, the most important form of organization of personal life, based on marital union and family ties, i.e. the relationship between husband and wife, parents and children, siblings, other relatives living together and form a joint economy on the basis of a single family budget” [6, p. 8].

According to the family system, each member of the family performs their roles. "Family role is a set of rights and responsibilities of a family member, as well as the principles of his interaction in the family and society” [6, p. 26]. Thus, family roles can be considered a certain function of the family system, the peculiarities of the behavior of each member in accordance with the social position of man, the system of intra-group and interpersonal relationships.

Analysis of scientific sources has shown that there is no single classification of family roles. The selection of their varieties is carried out in accordance with the main criterion for the distribution of roles. Thus, highlighting the marital and family status of a person as the main criterion, the following formal family roles are determined: marital, parent-child, sibling, marriage-mediated and blood- related [6, p. 26-27]. Depending on the leading functions of the family, such functional family roles are distinguished: "master/mistress”, responsible for the organization of life and housekeeping; the "breadwinner” is responsible for the material support of the family; the "educator” is responsible for the upbringing of children and their development; the "organizer” provides external ties of the family with other communities and responds to the establishment of family leisure [6, p. 27].

Yu. Ye. Alioshyna, offers her view on the classification of family roles, defining the following family roles: person, responsible for the material support of the family; master-mistress; person, responsible for the care of the baby; educator; sexual partner; entertainment organizer; organizer of a family subculture that preserves family traditions; person, responsible for maintaining family ties; family "psychotherapist”, person, responsible for creating and maintaining an emotional climate [1].

Foreign sociologists have a different approach to the classification of family roles, in particular they distinguish: traditional roles - those that meet stereotypes in society (wife gives birth and raises children, takes care of the house, creates comfort in the home, supports the husband; husband is responsible for material support and control over other family members, takes important family decisions, he has concentrated family power); sociable - provide moral support and sexual satisfaction (the wife should always be well-groomed and support the husband; the husband should admire the wife as a knight, support her financially, give gifts); roles of partners - both spouses have a shared responsibility for the material support of the family, housekeeping, making important decisions about family problems, raising children; the husband must recognize the equal status of the wife and treat her with respect [4, p. 43; 7].

Along with the constructive family roles, the researchers identify a number of destructive ones, namely: "accuser” demonstrates his superiority in everything, "peacemaker” is intended to please and prevent anger and resentment of the partner; "practical” mostly restrains his emotions, behaves coldly and withdrawn; "distracting” ignores threats and diverts attention from the negative situation to himself [5].

Important in the harmonious functioning of the family is its role structure, which includes the distribution of family roles (definition, consolidation and performance of each family member's responsibilities) and their impact on the peculiarities of family-role relationships. After all, the formed role structure of the family testifies to its formation as a social group, the ability of the couple to adapt to life together, to develop their own intra¬family value system. As mentioned above, traditionally in Ukrainian society, marital roles are established according to gender: a woman is engaged in housekeeping and raising children, a man is responsible for the material support of the family and sexual relations.

Today, a growing number of families have a partnership approach to the division of family roles (according to egalitarianism) and believe that both partners or, by agreement, the partner, who can do it better, has to support the family, make responsible decisions, run the household and raise children.

The transformation of role relationships in the modern family is an important regulator of marital relations. Ignorance and vagueness of the norms of family-role interaction creates a number of socio-psychological problems for the modern family, in particular: the couple's choice of their own way of role interaction, formation of a responsible attitude to their role, tolerance to various manifestations of role behavior of other family members. Therefore, the quality of marital relationships depends on the proper distribution of roles in the family and their understanding. Misunderstandings, uncertainties in the roles of each family member, and irresponsible attitudes toward them can often be the cause of each spouse's dissatisfaction with their status, conflict situations, adultery, and even divorce.

In order to clarify the peculiarities of the family roles distribution between spouses, we conducted an empirical study in which we applied the psychodiagnostic method "Distribution of roles in the family” of Yu. Ye. Alioshyna, L. Ya. Hofman and O.M. Dubrovska. Its purpose is to determine the peculiarities of the distribution and degree of realization of specific roles in the family by the husband and wife. This psychodiagnostic technique contains 21 questions, each of which has 4 possible answers. Respondents should choose in each question only one of the options that best suits their views.

With the help of this technique the diagnosis of family roles is carried out on the following scales: 1) education of children; 2) emotional climate in the family ("psychotherapeutic” function); 3) material support of the family; 4) organization of entertainment; 5) the role of "master”, "mistress”; 6) sexual partner; 7) organization of family subculture [1].

The study was conducted during September-October 2020. The study involved 11 married couples (husband and wife) with different marital experience in the number of 22 people aged 23 to 47 years (Kyiv). All the couples have children aged 1 to 20 years. Respondents belong to different age groups and have different experience of family life: 3 couples have experience of family life up to 5 years, the age of the couple - from 23 to 35 years; 5 couples have experience of family life from 6 to 13 years, the age of the couple - from 28 to 46 years; 3 couples have experience of family life over 13 years, the age of the couple - from 39 to 47 years. This makes it possible to diagnose a range of qualitative and quantitative characteristics regarding the distribution of family roles in spouses.

Research results and their discussion

According to the results of the method "Distribution of roles in the family” by Yu. Ye. Alioshyna, L. Ya. Hofman and O.M. Dubrovska, the peculiarities of the family roles distribution between spouses were analyzed. Quantitative indices of the family roles distribution of each spouse are given in tab. 1.

Distribution of family roles between spouses according to the method “Distribution of roles in the family” by Yu. Ye. Alioshyna, L. Ya. Hofman and O.M. Dubrovska

Table 1

The results presented in Tab. 1 show that the distribution of family roles in the studied couples is uneven:

1. The dominant role in the upbringing of children belongs to women (90.91%), although men also have a fairly high rate on this scale (63.64%). This indicates a slight predominance of traditional family interaction in Ukrainian society, where women are somewhat more involved in raising children;

2. The function of "psychotherapist”, supporter of the emotional climate in the family is mostly performed by women (81.82%), but men also do not stay away from improving the emotional climate in the family (63.64%). Emotional indifference of each spouse to the problems of the other contributes to the formation of mutual trust, a sense of security, safety and confidence in their partner;

3. The role of the person responsible for the material support of the family is mainly taken over by men (72.73%), although their wives (54.55%) also cope well with this function;

4. The role of entertainment organizer is divided equally between men and women. Both partners pay due attention to the planning of family leisure, recreation, vacations (63.64%).

5. The roles of "master” and "mistress” are almost equally divided between husband (63.64%) and wife (72.73%), with a slight advantage of women. Men and women alike make an effort to create home comfort, maintain order and cleanliness in the home.

6. The role of sexual partner dominates in men (90.91%), they are active in this area, and expect appropriate activity from their wives. However, it should be noted that women with some experience of family life often also initiate intimate relationships (54.55%).

7. The role of the organizer of family subculture is almost equally divided between women and men (54.55% and 45.45%), which is closely related to the functions of raising children and organizing family leisure.

It should be noted that the greatest consistency in the distribution of family roles, their maximum implementation by husband and wife, compliance with the traditional approach to the distribution of roles was found in married couples with experience of family life over 13 years. Attempts to follow a partnership approach in the distribution of family roles, a certain misunderstanding and uncertainty of their roles, the mismatch of personal characteristics of their role to each family member are mostly found in couples with experience of family life up to 5 years. Married couples with 6 to 13 years of family experience often have an overload of one of the spouses with family roles (housekeeping and raising children), improper performance of their duties or irresponsibility of the other.

According to the results of the interview, qualitative indices on the distribution of family roles were revealed. In particular, women expressed their dissatisfaction with the fact that they did not receive adequate emotional support from their husbands, that men did not pay enough attention to raising children. Instead, men noted that they needed more activity from their wives in sexual relations and the organization of a family subculture. Such dissatisfaction with partners often leads to family quarrels and misunderstandings between spouses.

Conclusions and prospects

Theoretical analysis of the problem of family roles allowed us to identify different criteria for the classification of family roles: marital and family status determines the types of formal roles; family functions - types of functional and dysfunctional family roles; to establish the correspondence of the family roles of the spouses to the functions of the family.

A generalized analysis of the results of an empirical study on the distribution of family roles showed that the roles of entertainment organizer, master/mistress, organizer of family subculture are equally shared by men and women; the roles of educator and "psychotherapist” is more typical of women; the role of sexual partner and partner, responsible for financial support is more often performed by men. Women and men are dissatisfied with the performance of certain family roles by their marriage partners. Thus, women do not receive adequate emotional support from their husbands and sufficient participation in raising children, while men want their wives to be more active in intimate relationships. Such dissatisfaction with partners is the result of incorrect distribution of family roles, inconsistency of personal needs and opportunities with the requirements of a certain role, as well as irresponsible attitude to the performance of their roles. These factors negatively affect the emotional atmosphere in the family, spoil the relationship between spouses and are the causes of family conflicts.

Prospects for further research are the study of role interaction in the parental families of adolescents and young people as a prerequisite for the formation of their future family roles.

Список використаних джерел

1. Алешина Ю.Е. Цикл развития семьи: исследования и проблема. Вестник Московского университета.

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