Family Therapy with a Multiparental/Multispousal Family

Abstract

This article examines therapy with a Bedouin-Arab family from the Negev, Israel, which consisted of 69 members: a husband, 8 wives, and 60 siblings. The husband, who lived with his youngest wife, paid little attention to his other wives and their children. There was considerable competition, hostility, and jealousy among the wives; no communication between the co-wives or the children of different wives; and a variety of behavioral and psychosocial problems among family members. I describe the varied strategies and systems involved in family therapy. The main strategies were to establish good relationships among the co-wives and to build a coalition among them, including the youngest wife, through group therapy in a medical clinic. A secondary strategy was using the children's problems to get the husband involved in the therapy. With improvement of the children's functioning, and with reduced intra-subfamily hostility, the husband's relationships with his children and wives improved.

Polygamy and Wife Abuse: A Qualitative Study of Muslim Women in America

“…Other researchers also support the ndings that rst wives are at increased risk for depression, somaticization disorders, and other psychopatholog y (Aghanwa, Dare, & Ogunniyi, 1999;Al-Isaa, 1990;Chaleby, 1985;El-Islam, 1975). Given these ndings it is not surprising that the Arabic word for cowife is darah, meaning "one who makes trouble" (Al-Krenawi, 1998).…”

“…In particular, information about intimate partner violence in polygamous families is virtually nonexistent . This is true even though researchers provide evidence suggesting that polygamy, like family violence, is often associated with increased family stress and poor child outcomes (Al-Krenawi, 1998;AlKrenawi, Graham, & Al-Krenawi, 1997;Al-Krenawi & Lightman, 2000;Chaleby, 1988). The investigato r sought to begin to amend this gap in knowledge by examining ndings related to polygamy and wife abuse from a larger qualitative study sought abuse in the American Muslim population (Hassouneh-Phillips , 20001a, 2001b;Phillips, 1999).…”

Scholastic Achievement and Family Marital Structure: Bedouin-Arab Adolescents From Monogamous and Polygamous Families in Israel

“…Polygamy is especially common in societies in which the child mortality rate is high and children are valued for their labor and for the emotional support and security they provide their parents in old age. In some countries (especially in Africa, where most polygamy research has been conducted), a family needs many children to provide the labor force required for subsistence farming (Al-Krenawi, 1998;Owuamanam, 1984).…”

School Performance of Children From Monogamous and Polygamous Families in Nigeria

“…It has been reported that children from polygamous families experience higher rates of marital conflict, family violence and family disruptions (see Al-Krenawi, 1998;Elbedour, Bart, & Hektner, 2000). These problems are commonly associated with maladjustment (Buehler & Gerard, 2002).…”