Ideas About the Ideal Marriage Partner Depending on the Moral Orientation
Abstract
The problem of forming ideas about an ideal marriage partner is addressed in the context of studying the influence of the moral orientation of the personality of modern young men and women. Ideas about marriage perform a guiding function in mastering the social role of the spouse. The purpose of the study is to identify the features of ideas about an ideal marriage partner (ideal husband, ideal wife) depending on the moral orientation of the personality of young men and women. Theoretical and methodological literature analysis, questionnaire, psycho-diagnostic methods (the methodology of "Personal Moral Self-determination" by A. E. Vorobieva, A. B. Kupreichenko, the method of Semantic Differential, developed by Charles E. Osgood, projective technique of "Incomplete Sentences", the questionnaire "Role Expectations and Claims in Marriage" by A. N. Volkova); mathematical and statistical data processing methods. The study involved 490 students. The moral orientation of the personality (egocentric, group-centric, humanistic, world-creating) is an individual factor that determines the originality of ideas about an ideal marriage partner among young men and women. Young women with a humanistic personality orientation are distinguished by the formation of cognitive, emotional and behavioral component in the images of "ideal husband" and "ideal wife". In the ideas about an ideal marriage partner, young men and women with a world-creating personality orientation record the greatest number of content characteristics.
Keywords: Ideas about marriage, moral orientations
Introduction
Family self-determination of young people is realized in the conditions of diversity and variability of models of family behavior, various forms of family functioning which are due to the diversity of socio-economic differences of sections of modern society, multiculturalism, multi-religiosity. In the modern information society Internet resources and social networks have a significant impact on the processes of socialization and individualization of an adult person whose life goals, values, ideals, moral norms and moral principles are in the process of formation. When using the Internet there are some certain types of online risks: content (collision with information containing illegal, non-ethical and malicious information) and communication (participation in cyberbullying, illegal contacts). Acquaintance with the content that contradicts traditional family values and illegal content, followed by its implementation in interpersonal relations, creates the risk of desocialization and distortion of ideas in the sphere of marriage and family relations, which are transformed into the real basis of family self-determination of young men and women. During the period of global digitalization of modern society and social changes, the institution of family and marriage, family values, is undergoing a transformation, therefore this research on socio-psychological factors of the formation of family self-determination and marriage-family ideas of the younger generation is becoming particularly relevant.
A separate area of scientific research is the study of ideas about marriage among modern youth. Young men have ideas about marriage (ideal husband, I am a future husband, ideal wife) due to the influence of the structure of valuable orientations and age (Merzlyakova et al., 2020). In early adulthood young men with a focus on the values of professional self-realization prefer a democratic (partner) model of the family which is characterized by equality of spouses and joint primacy. Young men with a focus on gnostic and aesthetic values choose the traditional family model where the woman is limited to the social roles of wife and mother. The objective dependence of ideas about marriage on the formed structure of valuable orientations among young women in early adulthood (from 20 to 22 years) has been established. The image of the ideal wife among young women focused on gnostic and aesthetic values is characterized by the presence of cognitive distortions which are manifested in a negative attitude towards the family as a social institution, the low importance of parental and educational functions and the role of the mother (Merzlyakova & Golubeva, 2021). At the same time the importance of such a parameter of morality as a moral orientation of the personality for the development of ideas about an ideal marriage partner has not been investigated.
Problem Statement
Throughout the history of mankind, the issue of the moral formation of the personality remains relevant. The main areas of research on the declared problems include: determining the role of moral qualities of the personality in professional activity (Vorobieva, 2016); establishing a link between moral orientations and subjective well-being of young people of various ethnic groups (Bocharova, 2016); identifying the connection between various parameters of moral development (moral orientation, moral sensitivity) of adolescents and the productivity of cognitive ways of processing social information in the Internet (Molchanov et al., 2019); studying age-psychological specificity and gender differences in the use of moral self-justification mechanisms (Molchanov, 2019). The negative state of morality and morals is manifested in an increase in tension in family relations, a deterioration in intergenerational relationships, a shortage of emotional intimacy in the family, an increase in conflict and criminogenicity of the family environment (Yurevich, 2016). The educational and methodological complex "Moral Foundations of Family Life" authored by Priest Dmitry Moiseev and Nun Nina (N. N. Krygina) is aimed at promoting family values and preparing young men and women for family life (Moiseev & Krygina, 2021). As a result of a comparative analysis Mironova (2018) demonstrates the possibility of forming and activating the moral education of high school students indirectly – through their professional development during their early youth, carried out with the help of self-developing mechanisms. The most important means of moral education of the individual is the cultural potential of each ethnic group at different stages of historical development (Muckhanova et al., 2019). The authors note that ethnicity and family determine the level of development of a person's morality and the regulation of his or her behavior.
Differences in marriage and family views among young men and women would be less pronounced with the weakening of egocentric tendencies, the moral position of modern youth would be closer to positive (humanistic, world-creating) if at the stage of professional training everyone had an educational component designed to form the moral qualities of the future family man.
Research Questions
Does the moral orientation of the personality (egocentric, group-centric, humanistic, world-creating) have a significant impact on the formation of ideas about an ideal marriage partner among young men and women?
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the study is to identify the features of ideas about an ideal marriage partner (ideal husband, ideal wife) depending on the moral orientation of the personality of young men and women. The hypothesis of the study is based on the assumption that the content-structural characteristics of ideas about an ideal marriage partner are determined by the moral orientation of the personality and the gender of the respondents. The following tasks were set in order to achieve the goal and test the hypothesis of the study
- To determine the dominant moral orientation of the personality among young men and women.
- To identify the substantive and structural characteristics of the image of an ideal husband depending on the moral orientation among young men and women.
- To establish the substantive and structural characteristics of the image of an ideal wife depending on the moral orientation among young men and women
Research Methods
Theoretical and methodological literature analysis, questionnaire, psycho-diagnostic methods (the methodology of "Personal Moral Self-determination" by A. E. Vorobieva, A. B. Kupreichenko, the method of Semantic Differential, developed by Charles E. Osgood, projective technique of "Incomplete Sentences", the questionnaire "Role Expectations and Claims in Marriage" by A. N. Volkova); mathematical and statistical data processing methods.
Diagnostics of the moral orientation of the personality
In order to determine the dominant moral orientation of the personality among young men and women we used the methodology of "Personal Moral Self-determination" by A. E. Vorobieva, A. B. Kupreichenko (Zhuravlev & Kupreichenko, 2007).
Diagnostics of the substantive characteristics of ideas about an ideal marriage partner
Using a modified version of the semantic differential method (Solomin, 2011) we determined the respondents ' valuable attitude towards such concepts as "ideal husband", "ideal wife". In addition, they established the significance of such personal qualities as performance of duties, caring, personal independence, responsibility, sexuality, patience, diligence, respect for another person, balance, success, empathy which formed the content of the cognitive component of ideas about marriage. The projective technique of "Incomplete Sentences" (Raigorodsky, 2001) allowed us to explore the elements of emotional component views about marriage: attitude towards the family as a social institution, their own family, a future marriage partner, themselves, future children, romantic love, gender, marital conflict, divorce, leadership and responsibility in the family, the rights and responsibilities of spouses, family recreation and leisure activities. Using the questionnaire "Role Expectations and Claims in Marriage" by A. N. Volkova (Volkova & Trapeznikova, 2012) we identified the installation of the respondents to the active implementation of the future marriage partner family roles (role expectations) and their own personal commitment to family responsibilities (role claims) in the household, parental educational, emotional and psychotherapeutic spheres of social activity, external attractiveness which amounted to a behavioral component ideas about marriage.
Reliability of the study results
Using the correlation analysis, we identified the substantive characteristics of ideas about marriage, depending on the moral orientation of the personality and the gender of the respondents. According to this aim we calculated the correlation coefficients between a particular image (ideal husband, ideal wife) and the elements of the cognitive, emotional and behavioral components. For quantitative variables whose distribution corresponds to the normal law (established as a result of calculating the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for one sample, the Shapiro-Wilk test) we calculated the Pearson’s Linear Correlation Coefficient (r). For ordinal variables and quantitative variables whose distribution significantly differs from the normal law the Spearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficient (r s). For the final conclusions we used the results at the level of statistical significance p ≤ 0.05; p ≤ 0.01. The ranking procedure by the value of the correlation coefficient allowed us to determine the hierarchy of substantive characteristics in the ideas about an ideal marriage partner from the most important to the least significant.
Findings
The study involved 490 students of Astrakhan State University, the Astrakhan Branch of the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation. There were 126 (25.7 %) young men and 364 (74.3 %) young women. All respondents were informed about the study and agreed to participate. We reported on the topic, emphasized the confidentiality of the research and the voluntary participation of students, and we stayed in the audience to answer any questions.
Results of psych diagnostics of the moral orientation of the personality among young men and women
Using the methodology “Personal Moral Self-determination” by A.E. Vorobieva, A.B. Kupreichenko it was found that 50 (10,2 %) respondents have egocentric orientation, 50 respondents (10,2 %) with group-centric orientation, 91 respondents (18,6 %) with humanistic orientation, 213 respondents (43,5 %) with world-creating orientation, 86 respondents (17.5%) with combined orientation. As seen in Figure 1 below, in the group of young men it is observed that 19 respondents (15,1 %) with egocentric orientation, 16 respondents (12,7 %) with group-centric orientation, and 17 respondents (13,5 %) with humanistic orientation, 53 respondents (42,1 %) with world-creating orientation, 21 respondents (16,6 %) with combined orientation. In the group of young women, it is observed that 31 respondents (8.5 %) with an egocentric orientation, 34 respondents (9.3 %) with a group-centric orientation, 74 respondents (20.3 %) with a humanistic orientation, 160 respondents (44 %) with a world-creating orientation, 65 respondents (17.9 %) with a combined orientation were identified.
Substantive-structural characteristics of the image of an ideal husband depending on the moral orientation of young men and women
The results of correlation analysis of ideas about ideal husband depending on the moral orientation of the personality of modern students are presented in the Table 1.
Among young men the invariant characteristic in the image of an ideal husband is balance. At the same time an earlier empirical study found that 65 % of respondents have a low level of emotional intelligence which includes such skills as voluntary management of their emotions, emotional awareness, and empathy (Merzlyakova & Bibarsova, 2020). Caring, diligence are important personal qualities in the image of an ideal husband for young men with egocentric, group-centered and world-creating personality orientation. In the image of an ideal husband there is a personal independence among young men with a group-centered, humanistic and world-creating orientation of the personality. Significant characteristics of an ideal husband are the fulfillment of duties, responsibility, and respect for other people for young men with an egocentric and world-creating personality orientation. Sexuality complements the image of an ideal husband among young men with an egocentric and humanistic personality orientation. In the hierarchy of substantive characteristics in the ideas of an ideal husband among young men with egocentric and group-centered personality orientation, patience occupies the second and first rank places respectively. If these elements of the cognitive component are a common characteristic of ideas about an ideal husband for at least two typological groups of young men, then the content of the emotional and behavioral components is determined by the dominant moral orientation of the personality. Among young men with an egocentric orientation the image of an ideal husband is supplemented with an element of an emotional component (a positive attitude towards the family as a social institution) and does not contain a behavioral component. Young men with a group-centered personality orientation are distinguished by the presence in the image of an ideal husband of a positive attitude towards marital rights and responsibilities (emotional component). Among young men with a humanistic personality orientation the image of an ideal husband includes elements of an emotional (positive attitude towards the future marriage partner) and behavioral (external attractiveness) component. Young men with a world-creating orientation of personality in the image of an ideal husband have such elements of the behavioral component as the attitude towards personal identification with the spouse, role claims in the field of parental-educational and emotional-psychotherapeutic spheres.
Among young women the image of an ideal husband has such common personal quality as a respect for other people. Caring, patience, balance, empathy are important substantive characteristics in the ideas of an ideal husband among young women with egocentric, humanistic and world-creating orientation. There is paid attention to the fact that empathy is absent in the ideas of young men about an ideal husband. The mismatch of ideas about the social role and behavior of the spouse among young men and women contributes to the emergence of interpersonal conflicts in the marital sphere in the future. Responsibility, sexuality, and diligence complement the image of an ideal husband among young women with a group-centered, humanistic, and world-creating personality orientation. The ideas about an ideal husband among young women with a humanistic and world-creating orientation of the personality differ in the presence of additional elements of cognitive (performance of duties, personal independence, success) and emotional components (a positive attitude towards the family as a whole, towards their own family, towards the future marriage partner, towards themselves). In the image of an ideal husband young women with an egocentric orientation have cognitive distortions which are manifested in the emotional (negative attitude towards family recreation and leisure) and behavioral components (underestimation of the intimate-sexual sphere in marital relations). Among young women with a group-centered orientation idea about an ideal husband include role expectations in the parent-educational sphere. Among young women with a humanistic personality orientation the ideas about an ideal husband differ in the presence of such elements of the behavioral component as role expectations in the emotional and psychotherapeutic sphere, external attractiveness, role expectations in the sphere of social activity. The image of an ideal husband among young women with a world-creating personality orientation is characterized by the most complete formation of the emotional component of ideas about the marriage partner and the presence of such additional elements as a positive attitude towards future children, towards romantic love, sex, leadership and responsibility in the family, family recreation and leisure.
The moral orientation of the personality determines the features of the development of the cognitive, emotional and behavioral components in the ideas of an ideal husband among young men and women.
Substantive-structural characteristics of the image of an ideal wife depending on the moral orientation of young men and women
The results of the correlation analysis of the image of an ideal wife and the substantive characteristics depending on the moral orientation of young men and women are presented in the Table 2.
Common personal qualities in the image of an ideal wife among young men are sexuality, personal independence, diligence. Caring is an important personal quality in the image of an ideal wife among young men with egocentric, group-centered and world-creating personality orientation. In the ideas of an ideal marriage partner there is a balance among young men with an egocentric, humanistic and world-creating orientation of the personality. The fulfillment of duties and respect for other people complement the image of an ideal wife among young men with an egocentric and world-creating personality orientation. Young men with an egocentric and humanistic personality orientation have patience in the image of an ideal wife. The presence of empathy distinguishes the ideas of an ideal wife among young men with a humanistic and world-creating orientation of the personality. Responsibility and success complement the image of an ideal wife among young men with a world-creating personality orientation. In the image of an ideal wife there are certain elements of the emotional component among young men with an egocentric (positive attitude towards the family as a social institution) and world-creating orientation (positive attitude towards the future marriage partner) personality. The actualization of the behavioral component in the ideas of an ideal wife is typical for young men with egocentric (role expectations in the emotional and psychotherapeutic sphere) and humanistic (personal identification with the spouse) orientation.
Among young women the invariant characteristic of the image of an ideal wife is the formation of the cognitive component and the presence of such qualities as caring, personal independence, diligence, respect for other people. Sexuality and responsibility complement the idea of an ideal wife among young women with a group-centered, humanistic and world-creating orientation of the personality. Empathy is an important personal quality of an ideal wife for young women with an egocentric and world-creating personality orientation. Among young women with a humanistic and world-creating personality orientation certain elements of the cognitive (fulfillment of duties, balance, success), emotional (positive attitude towards their own family, towards future children, romantic love) and behavioral (role claims in the parent-educational and emotional-psychotherapeutic spheres) components coincide in the ideas of an ideal wife. A positive attitude towards family recreation and leisure in the image of an ideal wife is characteristic of young women with a group-centered and world-creating orientation of the personality. Young women with a humanistic or world-creating orientation are distinguished by the formation of emotional and behavioral components in the ideas of an ideal wife. Young women with an egocentric or group-centered orientation do not have elements of a behavioral component in the image of an ideal wife. Among young women with an egocentric personality orientation the image of an ideal wife is complemented by a positive attitude towards marital rights and responsibilities. The idea of an ideal wife among young women with a humanistic personality orientation is characterized by a negative attitude towards divorce (emotional component), role claims in the economic and household sphere (behavioral component). The image of an ideal wife among young women with a world-creating personality orientation contains additional elements of cognitive (patience), emotional (positive attitude towards the future marriage partner, towards themselves, towards sex, leadership and responsibility in the family) and behavioral (personal identification with the spouse, external attractiveness) components.
The most peculiar ideas about an ideal husband and an ideal wife differ among young women with a world-creating orientation of the personality. The number of substantive characteristics in the image of an ideal husband is less than in the image of an ideal wife among young men with an egocentric, humanistic and world-creating orientation of the personality. On the contrary, young men with a group-centered personality orientation have more elements in the image of an ideal husband than in the ideas of an ideal wife. Among young women with an egocentric and humanistic personality orientation, ideas about an ideal husband contain a greater number of substantive characteristics compared to an ideal wife. The opposite trend is typical for young women with a group-centered and world-creating personality orientation: the image of an ideal wife includes more elements than the image of an ideal husband. Consequently, excessive demands and expectations in attitude towards the marriage partner in the future will be characteristic of students with an egocentric and humanistic orientation, as well as for young men with a world-creating orientation of the personality. It should be noted that such an important element of the behavioral component as role claims (among young men) and role expectations (among young women) is missing in the ideas of an ideal husband in the economic and household sphere. The image of an ideal wife does not represent the importance of the intimate-sexual sphere in marital relations, role expectations (for young men) and role claims (for young women) in the sphere of social activity.
Conclusion
The results of the study confirm the possibility and expediency of considering the moral orientation of the personality as a factor in the formation of ideas about an ideal marriage partner. Moral orientations of the personality play a significant differentiating role in the formation of cognitive, emotional and behavioral components in the ideas of an ideal husband and an ideal wife. Thus, the initial hypothesis that the substantive and structural characteristics of ideas about an ideal marriage partner are determined by the moral orientation of the personality and the gender of the respondents was generally confirmed.
So, the dominant moral orientation of the personality is a personal factor that determines the features of the cognitive, emotional and behavioral components of the ideas about an ideal marriage partner among young men and women. The image of an ideal wife is characterized by completeness, harmony and consistency among young women with a world-creating personality orientation. The actualization of the elements of the emotional (positive attitude towards future children) and behavioral components (role expectations and claims in the parental and educational sphere) of ideas about marriage indicates that the psychological readiness to perform parental and educational functions in the family is formed among young men with a world-creating orientation, among young women with a humanistic and world-creating orientation of the personality. In the image of an ideal husband, young women with an egocentric orientation have cognitive distortions (a negative attitude towards family recreation and leisure, an underestimation of the intimate-sexual sphere in marital relations). Basically, the ideas about an ideal marriage partner are characterized by a mosaic and fragmentary formation of emotional and behavioral components, especially in a group of young men. The results of the conducted empirical research actualize the importance and necessity of psychological and pedagogical support of the process of family self-determination of the individual at the stage of entering adulthood, the formation of complete and adequate ideas about the marital role and behavior. In order to prevent the occurrence of interpersonal conflicts in the marital sphere young men need to develop such personal qualities as balance, empathy, success, and to educate the value of intimate and sexual relations between spouses among young women.
Acknowledgements
The author(s) declare that there is no conflict of interest. The research was carried out with the financial support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Researches (RFBR) in the framework of scientific project № 20-013-00072 “Personal Factors of Family Self-determination Development in Adolescence and Early Adulthood”.
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