More Women, More Trouble" (Ha'aretz )
What do you make of this?
Victim of violence, slave to a mortgage: More women, more trouble
By Ruth Sinai
27/10/2008
"It is better to grow up in a family with one father and one mother than in a family with a father and many mothers. That is what Prof. Alean Al-Krenawi of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev found in a study of almost 1,000 Bedouin, about half of them from polygamous families.
He found that the average grade of pupils who grow up in polygamous families was 65, while that of those growing up in monogamous families was 75. Children in monogamous families also had greater self-esteem: Some 55% had high self-esteem as compared with only 25% of those from polygamous families.
Almost 85% of the wives in polygamous families reported that they had suffered from depression at some time during their lives, as compared with 63% of those in monogamous families; 75% reported that they were not satisfied with their married life as compared with 35% in monogamous relationships.
What was surprising was that the men in polygamous relationships were also not satisfied: Some 62% reported feeling depressed, as compared with 44% of those married to only one woman; and 70% reported that they were not satisfied with their married life, as compared with 30% of the monogamous men.
Al-Krenawi, who will present his findings at a conference on the Bedouin family that will be held Wednesday at Ben-Gurion University, in cooperation with other researchers from Israel, Jordan and the United States, says that despite the processes of urbanization that Bedouin society is undergoing, about one-quarter of the population's families are still polygamous.
In general, the men in these families do not have much education and their economic status is lower than that of men who are married to only one woman."
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Victim of violence, slave to a mortgage: More women, more trouble
By Ruth Sinai
27/10/2008
"It is better to grow up in a family with one father and one mother than in a family with a father and many mothers. That is what Prof. Alean Al-Krenawi of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev found in a study of almost 1,000 Bedouin, about half of them from polygamous families.
He found that the average grade of pupils who grow up in polygamous families was 65, while that of those growing up in monogamous families was 75. Children in monogamous families also had greater self-esteem: Some 55% had high self-esteem as compared with only 25% of those from polygamous families.
Almost 85% of the wives in polygamous families reported that they had suffered from depression at some time during their lives, as compared with 63% of those in monogamous families; 75% reported that they were not satisfied with their married life as compared with 35% in monogamous relationships.
What was surprising was that the men in polygamous relationships were also not satisfied: Some 62% reported feeling depressed, as compared with 44% of those married to only one woman; and 70% reported that they were not satisfied with their married life, as compared with 30% of the monogamous men.
Al-Krenawi, who will present his findings at a conference on the Bedouin family that will be held Wednesday at Ben-Gurion University, in cooperation with other researchers from Israel, Jordan and the United States, says that despite the processes of urbanization that Bedouin society is undergoing, about one-quarter of the population's families are still polygamous.
In general, the men in these families do not have much education and their economic status is lower than that of men who are married to only one woman."
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