Psychosocial and Familial Functioning of Children From Polygynous and Monogamous Families

Abstract

A sample of 352 Bedouin Arab children--174 from monogamous and 178 from polygynous families--participated in this study. The authors used self-reported standardized measures to assess the participants' level of self-esteem, mental health, social functioning, father-child relationships, mother-child relationships, and family functioning. The findings revealed that children from polygynous families reported more mental health and social difficulties as well as poorer school achievement and poorer relationships with their fathers than did their counterparts from monogamous families. In addition, the children from polygynous families rated their families' functioning and economic status as poorer than did those of monogamous families. Thus, the authors suggest that a polygynous family structure negatively affects the family's socioeconomic status and interpersonal relationships and impairs the children's psychological and social functioning. The authors discuss implications for practice and policy.

Mental health and polygamy: The Syrian case

“…Likewise, as indicated in Tables 2 and 3, many of the mental health symptoms were more common for polygamous women; particularly noteworthy were somatization, obsessive compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, hostility psychoticism and the GSI. Findings from the current study regarding polygamy among Syrians' women is consistent with previous studies conducted in UAE, Kuwait, Egypt, Jordan, the Gaza Strip, Arabs in Israel, Palestine and Turkey which point out that the wives in polygamous marriages have reportedly more psychosocial, familial and economic problems compared to their counterparts from monogamous families [4,14,20,28] . A recent Turkish study found out that the participants from polygamous families, especially senior wives, reported more psychological distress [19] .…”

“…Families living together in crammed and overcrowded conditions, can create an environment that aggravates stress and conflict between co-wives [34] . Previous research reveals significant implications regarding children's lower academic achievements, and men's psychological problems, amongst polygamous marriages [20] . The practice has implications for entire familial structures, and for current and future families and communities.…”

“…Al-Sherbiny [5] pointed out that first wives in polygamous families experience a major psychological crisis. Another finding is that women in polygamous marriages report low self-esteem (SE) and less life satisfaction than women in monogamous marriages [3,20,21] . To the best of my knowledge the present study is the first to examine the psychological, SE, family function, marital satisfaction, life satisfaction and degree of agreement with the practice of polygamy among polygamous women with a control group from monogamous women in Syria.…”

School Performance of Children From Monogamous and Polygamous Families in Nigeria

“…Most of these studies have been made on Arab population in Israel (Al-Krenawi, Graham, & Al-Krenawi, 1997;Al-Krenawi, Graham, & Slonim-Nevo, 2002;Al-Krenawi & Lightman, 2000;Al-Krenawi & Slonim-Nevo, 2008;Elbedour, et al, 2000;Elbedour, Onwuegbuzie, & Alatamin, 2003). One study has been made in South Africa (Cherian, 1990).…”

A Comparison of Sexual Function, Psychological Status, and Sociodemographic Characteristics of Turkish Men within Polygamous and Monogamous Marriages

“…It can be defined as any form of marriage in which a person has more than one spouse (1). Several forms of polygamy have been described.…”