Age Difference In Marriage

Prepared for Course: Introduction of Sociology Section: 1 Instructor: Tata Zafar

Welcome to our presentation

Group- F
Md.Kaderi Kibria Faiza Farah Tuba Saeed Hossain

Md. Shah Ahsan Leon

Shadman Sahir Ahmed Akan Mohammad Arefin Khaled

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Introduction
Our topic is age difference on marriage and mainly focuses on

recent trend in the Same Age Marriage or Age-Homogamy.

The SMAM data reported in the United Nations World Marriage

Patterns (2000) based on 236 countries indicate husbands are older than their wives except one country.
This husband-wife age gap tends to be larger in developing

countries especially African and Asian nations, while in developed countries it tends to be smaller.
Research Objective is to explore the topic i.e. exploratory research.

Literature Review
Couples in conjugal family systems usually marry later and the spousal age difference is not significant; couples in joint family systems usually marry earlier and the spousal age difference is significant, while age at marriage and spousal age difference for couples in stem family systems are usually moderately significant (Laslett, 1983).

In addition to marriage form, individual and family factors also influence age at marriage. The individual factors mainly include education level, income, occupation, etc. Among these individual factors, education plays the most important role for it can not only influence the independence of ones behaviors but also determine ones income and occupation to a certain extent (Oppenheimer, 1995 pp. 94-95).
Also the age difference between partners appears to influence bargaining power of spouses (Friedberg and Webb, 2006).

Literature Review (Contd.)

Choo and Siow (2005) develop and estimate a model that as individuals have finite lives and the accumulation of marriage specific capital requires time, a young individual who marries an older spouse will anticipate having less time to accumulate and enjoy marriage specific capital relative to marrying a same age or younger spouse . While there is limited research on marrying older women or having a younger husband i.e. so-called Cougars, Improving economic status of women has freed them to partner with younger men, who typically have lower earnings than men their same age or older. There is also evidence that the age difference between spouses is negatively related to marital stability (Lillard et al, 1995)

Literature Review (Contd.)

Age Difference however, is also an important indicator of social closure and gender inequality, as large age differences between spouses have been associated with more patriarchal family systems and less spousal intimacy ( Van de Putte et al. 2009). As high romanticism can only grow between people who understand each other, and because same age peers have more frequent interaction with each other than with older or younger people, romantic love will lead to more intimate relation in their conjugal life. (Van de Putte and Matthijjs, n.d. )

Justification of The Topic

Feasibility of the Topic i. Access to the information ii. Availability of audience iii. Shorter period of time

Definition of the Topic and Terminologies

Same age in marriage or Age Homogamy is going to a social contract where spouses age difference is less than two years. Spousal age difference is calculated by husbands age minus the wifes age

Social scientists use the Singulate Mean Age at Marriage (SMAM) to compute the average age individuals marry.
Cougars refers to marrying older women or having younger husband. Intimacy is a particularly close interpersonal relationship that involve physical or emotional attachment.

Purpose of The Research Study

Common perception of the married and unmarried persons about same age marriage. Which factors encourage the same spousal gap in marriage i.e. both psychological and economical.

Social acceptance of marriage where husband junior than wife i.e. cougars and peoples perception about it.
Relationship between love marriage & same age marriage how much intimacy and what is the utility in terms of happiness. Pros and cons of Age-Homogamy.

Methodology

Research Strategy
Mixed Research Strategy

We cannot get genuine feedback with either

qualitative of quantitative alone.

Easier to collect and portray the result of the

respondents.

Flexible.

Research Method
Survey
General feedback
Considering the limited time and resources, survey is the best possible method.

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Sample Strategy
Convenience and Purposive Sampling

Convenience: Easy to reach respondents

Example: Family, Friends, Relatives etc. Purposive: To reduce the risk of getting responses from same category.

Characteristics of Sample
Single Married a)With age difference b)Same age c)Duration of marriage d)Age gap
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Data collection technique

Questionnaire Research Questions: a)What should be the best age difference between couples? b)Does age really matter? Why or why not? c)Do you think that problems arises in same age marriage? d)If the answer to question c is yes, then what are the problems in same age marriage?

Research Questions (Contd.)

If your question to c is No, then what are the good sides of same age marriage? f) Does a big age difference doom a relationship? g) Do you think there should be a legal age difference for couples? h) Is it acceptable to marry a man junior to woman?
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Research Questions (Contd.)

i) Will there be an impact on children if there is a difference between father & mother? j) Love marriages are mostly among same age couple. For Married respondents: Friendship, Happiness, Excitement, Intimacy and Companionship

Findings

What should be the best age difference between couples?

Most of the respondents believe that the best age difference between spouses should be 2 years. None of the participants like high age gap like 10 years.

Does age really matter? Why or why not?

Most people believe that age

matters. They believe physical growth, sense of maturity and responsibility comes with age. On the other hand those who believe that age has nothing to do with marriage they said that, mentality of two people, understanding between them is more important than anything else.

Do you think that problems arise in same age marriage?

57% participants think that no problems arise in same age couples. Among these respondents most are males.

What are the problems in same age marriage?

Most single males said that

lack of respect arises in same age marriage. Where the married males only realized that decision making is the main problem. Single females said both problems of lack of respect and problem in decision making equally. Only one married female believed that lack of trust is a problem is same age couple

What are the good sides of same age marriage?

Male respondents both

single and married said that the good side of same age marriage is more friendly relation. Single females said that ease in adjustment is more important. Married female respondent emphasized more on both friendly relation as well as adjustment easiness.

Do you think there should be a legal age difference for couples?

Though most of the

respondents do not think that there should be a legal gap between spouses, some thinks the reverse. Interestingly, both married males and females have the same opinion about this legal difference.

It is acceptable in our society to marry a man junior to woman

None of the respondents strongly agreed to this topic. 37% people said they are neutral to this fact.

33% people disagreed, that it is not acceptable in our society to marry a woman who is senior to man.
Only 7% participants strongly opposed this. On the

other hand 23% are in favor of marring a man junior to his wife.

There will be an impact on children if there is a difference between father & mother
In general, the highest

percentage of contributors said that they are neutral about it. Among them most are females. On contrast 39% male respondents agreed to this issue that there are some impacts on children if there is a gap between parents.

Love marriages are mostly among same age couple

As we can see, none of

the participants strongly disagreed to this issue, but 11% male disagreed. 67% female and 50% male agreed that love marriages are among same age people. Very few respondents are neutral in their answers.

How married respondents evaluated their married life in different areas

In terms of friendship, 57% participants responded

with the fact that they are very satisfied. 36% are satisfied and only 1 man who consisted 7% said he is neither satisfied nor dissatisfied.
64% respondents showed themselves as very satisfied

in terms of happiness. The remaining 36% are satisfied.

How married respondents evaluated their married life in different areas (Contd.)
Surprisingly both male and female respondents

have exactly the same proportionate opinion about the excitement in their married life. In terms of intimacy 4 men and 3 women said that they are very satisfied. Again, 3 men and more women said that they are satisfied. Lastly in terms of companionship, most respondents are very satisfied. Only one female is neither satisfied nor dissatisfied.

Discussion

Discussion
Most people prefer an age gap of 2 years between

spouses. Age matters for 50% people and among them majority are males. The males showed biological and psychological needs behind the age matter issue. Whereas, women said, maturity, sense of responsibility comes with age.

Discussion (Contd.)
People who said that age does not matter for them

mentality of individuals as well as understanding between partners are more important than age.
Majority of the respondents does not see any problem in

same age marriage.

Men whose wives are junior to them, they also supported

the good sides of same age marriage, though they prefer an age gap of 2 years between spouses.
On the other hand women whose husbands are senior to

them, they said that problem arises in same age marriages.

Discussion (Contd.)
For men lack of respect is the main problem in same

age marriage. On contrast, females said decision making is the bigger problem.
The good sides of same age marriage according to

most females are friendly relation, ease in adjustment and decision making equally. Whereas, for males friendly relation is the biggest advantage of same age couples.
Legal gap for marriage is not a desired by any segment

of the respondents. But those who said this gap should be legalized among them majority are single females

Discussion (Contd.)
Majority of the people are neutrals regarding the

issue of marrying a man junior to woman. Those who disagreed with this are mostly single males.
Most respondents agreed that love marriages are

among same age people and nobody strongly denied this issue.

Married Respondents
Married males and females irrespective of their age, age

gap with partners and duration of marriage, are mostly very satisfied in their conjugal life in terms of happiness, friendship, excitement, intimacy and companionship.
Only one female respondent who is the youngest among

all the married participants consider herself neither satisfied nor dissatisfied in terms of excitement and companionship in her wedded life.

Married Respondents (Contd.)

Interestingly, one male respondent with 6 years age gap

and 22 years of duration of marriage claimed to be very satisfied in all the attributes surveyed.
All the married females without any age gap with their

husbands considered themselves very satisfied in all the issues

At the end

Conclusion
Women prefer to have an age difference between

their husbands and themselves because they believe that maturity and sense of responsibility comes with the age. So, maturity and sense of responsibility is an important issue for women in case of finding life partner.
Male participants gave importance on mentality of

individuals and mutual respect.

Conclusion (Contd.)
Single female participants tend to have more

problems than male participants regarding same age marriage. But all the married females without any age gap with their husbands considered themselves very satisfied in all the issues .So, it can be deduced mutual understanding can solve the uncertainty of maturity and sense of responsibility.
The problem of marriage can be solved by ensuring

mutual respect , maturity and sense of responsibility .

Thank you