Date of Publication

7-2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Counseling Psychology

Subject Categories

Marriage and Family Therapy and Counseling

College

Br. Andrew Gonzalez FSC College of Education

Department/Unit

Counseling and Educational Psychology

Thesis Advisor

Leo J. Capeding

Defense Panel Chair

John Addy S. Garcia

Defense Panel Member

Estesa Xaris Q. Legaspi
Niño Jose C. Mateo
Washington C. Garcia
Maria Cristina E. Saldivar

Abstract/Summary

In Tamil Nadu, India, couples entering arranged marriages face limited pre-marital interactions, leading to potential conflicts as women's expectations, influenced by education, job opportunities, and globalization, clash with men's traditional roles. External factors such as friends, extended family, and the COVID-19 pandemic also exacerbated or contributed to conflicts in their relationships. Guided by the Vulnerability-Stress-Adaptation model (Karney & Bradbury, 1995), this study explored couples' adaptive process to navigate conflicts and maintain satisfaction and stability. The study used a qualitative multiple case study design and reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clark, 2019) with dyadic analysis on ten married couples, 26 to 37 years of age and 3 to 8 years of married life in Tamil Nadu, India. Member checking, peer debriefing, and auditing were conducted to increase the data's credibility, reliability, and validity. The results revealed the following: (a) a shift from traditional to progressive gender-role attitudes and expectations of married couples led to conflicts; (b) the influence of extended family was more troublesome than favorable contributions in their relationship; (c) couples' adaptive processes such as family commitment, sacrifice for conflicting expectations, open communication, compromise, supporting spouse in the event of external pressure, managing conflicts internally, and emotional adjustment to resolve conflicts; (d) the unique added path in model, experiential outcomes of adaptive processes such as emotional intimacy, personal empowerment, strong partnership, and well-being leading to marital satisfaction, and reducing conflicts leading to relationship harmony, thereby, both marital satisfaction and relationship harmony leading to marital stability. Overall, the study contributes to understanding the adaptive processes married couples engage in response to gender-role conflicts, offering contributions to literature, clinical practice, and agencies and suggesting areas for further research. The limitations, implications, and recommendations of the study are also discussed.

Abstract Format

html

Language

English

Format

Electronic

Keywords

Arranged marriage—India; Marriage—India—Psychological aspects; Marital conflict—India; Sex role—India; Adaptability (Psychology)—India

Upload Full Text

wf_yes

Embargo Period

7-2027

Download

Available for download on Thursday, July 01, 2027

Share

COinS