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A Comparison Study of Psychological, Family Function Marital and Life Satisfactions of Polygamous and Monogamous Women in Jordan

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Abstract

This study surveyed a 2009 convenience sampling of 199 women, 93 of whom were first (or senior) wives in polygamous marriages and 106 were wives in monogamous marriages. We deployed the McMaster Family Assessment Device (FAD), ENRICH marital satisfaction questionnaire, SCL-90 mental health symptoms checklist, Rosenberg self-esteem (SE) scale, and Diener, Emmons, Larsen, and Griffin life satisfaction scale, a basic sociodemographic scale, including attitudes towards polygamy. Women from polygamous families experienced more problems in family functioning, marital relations, and reported low self-esteem, less satisfaction with life, and more somatization, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, paranoid ideation, psychoticism and their general severity index was higher (GSI). More women in polygamous marriages agreed with the practice of polygamy, as compared to their monogamous counterparts. The conclusion considers implications for mental health practice, policy, and further research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Box 4200, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5S7, Canada

    Alean Al-Krenawi

  2. Murray Fraser Professor of Community Economic Development, Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada

    John R. Graham

  3. Social Work Department, Al Balqa Applied University, P.O. Box 517, Amman, Tareq, 11947, Jordan

    Fakir Al Gharaibeh

Authors
  1. Alean Al-Krenawi
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  2. John R. Graham
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  3. Fakir Al Gharaibeh
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Correspondence to John R. Graham.

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Al-Krenawi, A., Graham, J.R. & Al Gharaibeh, F. A Comparison Study of Psychological, Family Function Marital and Life Satisfactions of Polygamous and Monogamous Women in Jordan. Community Ment Health J 47, 594–602 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-011-9405-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-011-9405-x

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