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.
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.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Pages 1-9
- DOI 10.1007/s10597-011-9405-x
- Authors
- Alean Al-Krenawi, School of Social Work, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Box 4200, St. John’s, NL A1C 5S7, Canada
- John R. Graham, Murray Fraser Professor of Community Economic Development, Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
- Fakir Al Gharaibeh, Social Work Department, Al Balqa Applied University, P.O. Box 517, Amman, Tareq, 11947 Jordan
- Journal Community Mental Health Journal
- Online ISSN 1573-2789
- Print ISSN 0010-3853