CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the study
One of the fundamental aspects of human behaviour is the ability of an individual to form and keep relationships. Marriage, which is a contractual union between two people and marks the beginning of a family formation process is a form of relationship (Brien & Sheran, 2003). Marriage for a long time has been recognised as a union between a man and a woman though in recent times some countries have started recognising same sex marriage. Individuals preparing for marriage often choose a suitable partner based on certain desired qualities (Lehrer & Chen, 2013).
The institution of marriage plays a central role in the lives of many people (Brien & Sheran, 2003). Marriage marks an important transition that young men and women make as they enter into adulthood. Certain decisions like when to have children, how many children to have, the type of employment to go for, to mention but a few have a strong link with the nature of marriage relationship one finds him/herself in. This makes marriage an area of interest to policy makers and social researchers (Brien & Sheran, 2003).
However, modernization, urbanization and industrialization have brought about social changes which affect the core of society including marriage, the foundation of every family unit (Amoateng & Heaton, 1989).. One of the notable effects of modernization is the increase in instability of marital unions. Not too long ago, individuals entering the marriage relationship had the expectation to live together till old age and/or possibly die but this is not the case in recent years (Garenne, 2004). Some researchers believe that the situation seemed so at the time because death as a result of contagious diseases and child birth were so high that one partner would die before separation or divorce became a source of marital conclusion ( Becker, et al
1977; Lehrer & Chen, 2013; Amato & Patterson, 2017). These researchers believe as the death rates declined the number of married couples desiring separation and/or divorce has increased rather than death has changed.
In every society, the basic unit is the family be it nuclear or extended (Amoateng & Heaton, 1989). In Africa the concept of marriage has always recognised the family as the centre of the union and this has both positive and negative effects with respect to marital instability (Takyi & Gyimah, 2007).
Divorce is a type of marital instability which is deemed as the legal dissolution of the marriage by a competent body or agency of a country (Kneip & Bauer, 2009). Separation on the other hand is when a marriage which was legally or otherwise contracted ends with parties involved going their separate ways without actual legal termination (Booth et.al., 1984). The basic difference between the two is that while divorce confers the right to remarriage on both parties the same cannot be said of separation. In the United States and Europe, many people have attributed an increased trend of marital instability to changes in the divorce laws from fault to no fault divorce (Kneip & Bauer, 2009; White, 1990).
Research in Sub-Saharan Africa and Ghana has shown that marital instability is on the rise and this is supported by empirical findings as documented by some Ghanaian researchers (Takyi & Gyimah, 2007; Takyi, 2001). A study conducted by Clark and Brauner-Otto (2015) in 33 African countries including Ghana reported that marital unions were very fragile, with divorce being the main driver of marital instability in the region (Clark & Brauner-Otto, 2015).
Marital instability has serious negative impact on the parties involved, man, woman and children if there are any (Lehrer, 2008). Children are often the worst hit by the marital dissolution as they usually end up with only one of the parents. This deprives the child or
children of important inputs such as quality of care, quality of time, money, family and community resources, to mention but a few. These tend to have both short and long-term negative consequences. (Chae, 2010).
Age at which marital union is first contracted is very critical for the success or otherwise of the marriage. Age at marriage has been referred to as an important predictor of marital instability (Bumpass and Sweet, 1972; Becker 1974). Age at first marriage determines a female’s reproductive risk. Becker (1974) argued that people that marry very early are at greater risk of marital instability than those who marry late. This assertion of Becker’s pioneering work of age at first marriage has gained support from other researchers (Booth & Edwards, 1985; Oppenheimer, 1988; Lehrer, 2008; Glenn, et al, 2010; Lehrer & Son, 2017). Various explanations have been put forth trying to explain the relationship between early marriage and marital instability. Oppenheimer (1988) used the “market squeeze” research to explain the timing of marriage (Oppenheimer, 1988). She explained that people who marry early are often not well initiated into the roles required of them as married persons. This lack of performance leads to frustrations or discontent that have fuelled marital instability. Work by Takyi (2001) attests to this fact and noted that with marriages in sub-Saharan Africa, gender roles were clearly defined and performance expectations very high. He further explained that these people may not have been schooled enough by society and family to take up such roles expected of them. Another reason given by researchers is that people who marry early may do so without parental blessing and creating a lack of parental and other forms of external social support when the crises of misunderstanding and other marital challenges arise (Amato & Patterson, 2017; Rotz, 2016).Such people often opt for divorce or separation as a first option rather than a last resort.
Similarly, late age at marriage has been said to influence marital instability but premised to do so in different ways. Late age at marriage could be as the result of long years of independence and social networking which make it less of a need for such persons to be married to fulfil the expected gender roles and/or conform to the high expectations. Such individuals tend to conveniently opt out of the union as soon as an obstacle is encountered (Booth and Edwards 1985). In addition, individuals who settle for late marriage may be due to the mounting pressure from family and friends rather than love to enter the union. This is especially so in African societies where marriage and procreation is perceived to be the ultimate in one’s life cycle (Becker et al., 1977; Glenn et al., 2010).
A lot of the work on the relationship between age at marital unions and marital instability have been skewed towards females. There are limited studies exploring this same issue with respect to the male partners of the union. Again, several studies have focussed on divorce as the sole outcome of marital instability without exploring the role separation plays. The need to examine holistically, the relationship between age at first marriage for both males and females, expand the discourse on marital instability to include separation and possibly compare if age at first marriage and its relationship with marital instability is the same for both males and females.
Statement of the problem
The term marital instability can be used when marriage ends in either divorce or separation. Several studies conducted have alluded that marital instability has increased over the years (Amato, 1996; Clark & Brauner-Otto, 2015; Garenne, 2004; Lehrer & Son, 2017). Marital instability is exceptionally high in the United States of America (Lehrer & Son, 2017). Numerous reasons can account for this high marital instability rate in the United States major among them is the liberalization of divorce laws and granting of out of court and unilateral agreement annulment of marriages. This increase of marital instability in the United States has
helped couples who were unhappily married to go their separate ways. Takyi (2001) testifies to a growing proportion of marital instability among Sub-Saharan African marriages.
In many African societies, much value is placed on marriage because it is seen as a transitional period into adulthood where one leaves the parental home to settle elsewhere (Bartkowski & Shah, 2014). In Ghana, marriages may be contracted in three main ways; customary, Islamic and ordinance. Customary and Islamic marriages allows polygamy whiles ordinance is strictly a monogamous marriage (Opoku, 1972). In the traditional settings marriage is between two families not only the two people involved whereas marriage under ordinance is a union between a man and a woman (Opoku, 1972).
Divorce in Ghana can be done either at the courts or from the extended family unit level based on the type of marriage that was contracted. Separation is used in situations where both parties decide to go their separate ways without an official annulment of the marriage and lead their individual lives either singly or co-habiting with others.
The reasons why a marriage may end in dissolution are countless. Michael (1974) and Becker, et al (1977) put forward two main arguments why a marriage may be unstable. First is when one partner or both partners realise that either the expectations of themselves or of their partner is unfitting. Secondly is when the circumstances under which the agreement was contracted has changed due to certain uncalculated events (Becker et al., 1977). Despite these reasons, the degree to which one benefits from the marriage also has a significant influence on the stability of the union. Marital benefits are not limited only to monetary advantages but also good mental and physical health. It is believed that the characteristics and match of the couple at the time of marriage can determine the degree of benefits that may be derived from a marriage.
The age at which people marry is of importance to social researchers because it is usually the time where society recognises as acceptable for sexual activity and child bearing. Age at first marriage is reported to have increased over the decades in both the Western societies and the Africa region (Garenne, 2004). Ghana experienced a rise in median age at first union among females from 18.0 years in the 1988 to 20.7 years in 2014 (Ghana Statistical Service et al., 2015). Similarly, the median age at first union for males also increased from 25.5 years in 1993 to 26.7 years in 2014 (Ghana Statistical Service et al., 2015).According to the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS) conducted in 2014, the number of women marrying by age 15 decreased from 11% to 2% among the 45-49 age group and 15-19 age group respectively (Ghana Statistical Service et al., 2015).
In the discourse on age at which marriage is contracted, it may be relevant to ask whether this present pattern of rising age at first marriage has an effect on the stability of union. Various studies have indicated a higher risk of marital instability associated with a younger age at marriage(Becker, 1974; Lampard, 2013; Lehrer & Son, 2017; Oppenheimer, 1988). In other words the older you are at the time of marriage the more likely you are to have a stable marriage. A reduced risk of marital instability was associated with an increase in age at first marriage in a study by Chan and Halpin (2005). On the other hand men who marry late possibly have a higher education and earning power than those who marry early and this could have a stabilizing effect for the union (Lehrer & Chen, 2013).
Becker et al in their pioneering work in 1977 suggested that there is a non-linear relationship between age at first marriage and marital instability. Some other research has also documented that marriage contracted after the age of 30 years may be associated with a higher risk of instability than those at an early age because of poor match effects (Lehrer & Chen, 2013).
Some authors believe there is a selection effect of the factors that determine the outcome of marriage. It is best to capture and control for some of these factors that seemingly affect marital stability when examining the effect of age at first marriage on marital instability. Socio- demographic characteristics such as education, wealth, religion will have to be controlled for. Studies in the United States have found little impact of age at first marriage on marital instability when one appropriately controls for the relevant socio-demographic characteristics. The variations in the aforementioned research findings means a gap still remains in the knowledge on the relationship between the age at which marriage is contracted and marital instability. This study looks at marital instability on a broader perspective as most of the previous research have focused on divorce but in societies where divorce is frowned upon most people resort to separation rather than divorce. Secondly, very few studies have looked at the influence of marital instability on males. This paves the way to find out what the situation is in Ghana. This study therefore seeks to determine whether in Ghana, the age at first marriage has a significant effect on the stability of marriage.
Rationale of the study
The study will establish the age limits within which marriages contracted show a positive relationship with marital stability in Ghana. It will throw more emphasis on other equally important factors that may possibly influence marital instability among males and females. The impact of marital instability on the parties involved cannot be over emphasized. Men and women usually go through a lot of psychological, social, emotional stress which is aggravated in the one who ends up with the children. These effects in turn end up affecting productivity. Studies done in Malawi and Burkina Faso, reveal that children of divorced parents have lower educational attainment and were less likely to enter school or die before age five respectively (Chae, 2010; Thiombiano, LeGrand, & Kobiané, 2013). Finally understanding the dynamics of
marital instability in Ghana is essential to help policy makers take well versed decisions on how to address this challenge.
Research questions
This study pursues answers for the following research questions;
- What is the association between age at first marriage and instability of marriage?
- What is the association between socio-economic/demographic status and marital instability?
- Are the factors that influence marital instability similar in males and females or different?
