Conflict and Compatibility? Developmental Idealism and Gendered Differences in Marital Choice

Allendorf, Keera

doi:10.1111/jomf.12339

Cited by 19 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 56 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our findings suggest that marital choice and age at marriage are strongly interconnected within these communities, and that both descriptive and injunctive norms may play an important role. These findings, the first of their kind from Niger, extend work largely from South Asia that highlights gendered restrictions against girls’ mate selection or even their perceptions of acceptability in choosing their spouse, and the strong association between early marriage and lack of marital choice among girls ( Allendorf, 2017 ; McDougal et al, 2018 ), by demonstrating the importance of social norms in reinforcing and linking these practices.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

Associations between village-level norms on marital age and marital choice outcomes among adolescent wives in rural Niger

Shakya

Silverman

Barker

et al. 2020

SSM - Population Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Social norms, the often unspoken rules that dictate behavior, are increasingly understood to play a role in child, early and forced marriage (CEFM) practices, but are less frequently examined in quantitative research on CEFM. No research on this topic has focused on Niger, despite the country having the highest prevalence of child marriage in the world. This study examines the associations of community and individual-level norms on marital age and marital choice with the outcomes of girls' age at marriage and choice in marriage. We used data from a family planning evaluation trial conducted in three districts within the Dosso region of Niger. Survey data were collected from adolescent wives and their husbands (N = 582) on demographics, normative beliefs regarding girls' age at marriage and marital choice, and among wives, age at marriage and engagement in marital choice. We developed our community-level norm variables by using the aggregate data from husbands' and wives' norms and wives' CEFM experiences. Using crude and adjusted regression models, we assessed the associations between our norms variables and our CEFM outcomes. In this context of very high prevalence of CEFM, we found that village-level norms related to marital choice, particularly the norms of men, are associated with younger age of girls at marriage. We also found that younger age of girls at marriage is positively associated with lower likelihood of their engagement in marital choice. Further, we find that village-level norms related to a later age of marriage and support for marital choice, as well as adolescent wives' perceptions of community norms related to a higher age of marriage, are associated with higher odds of a wife having had marital choice. These findings suggest the value of community level social norms change on CEFM in Niger, and the importance of focusing on child marriage and girls’ marital choice simultaneously given their interconnection.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

Associations between village-level norms on marital age and marital choice outcomes among adolescent wives in rural Niger

Shakya

Silverman

Barker

et al. 2020

SSM - Population Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This differential also applies specifically to marriage. In Nepal, as well as other contexts with patriarchal family systems and arranged marriage, men exercise greater control over the choice of their spouse than women (Allendorf, 2017; Caldwell, Reddy, & Caldwell, 1983; Ghimire, Axinn, Yabiku, & Thornton, 2006; Riley, 1994). This disparity suggests that men are better able to act on their attitudes and, thus, men’s timing attitudes are more influential.…”

Section: Conceptualizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By contrast, the exogenous role is highlighted in developmental idealism theory. According to this theory, the dissemination of a powerful collection of values and beliefs that portray Western behavior as inherently good, modern, and causally connected to socioeconomic development motivated individuals around the world to adopt Western marriage practices (Allendorf, ; Allendorf & Thornton, ; Thornton, Dorius, & Swindle, ). Regardless of whether timing attitudes are mediating underlying economic factors or acting as exogenous causal forces, we view such attitudes as an important part of the marriage process and expect that they contribute to gender gaps in marital timing.…”

Section: Conceptualizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On one hand, timing attitudes may have a greater influence on women's behavior because timing attitudes about women are tied to the valuation of virginity and childbearing. In Nepal, as well as much of South Asia, women's, but not men's, sexuality is tightly linked to marriage, and young women are expected to remain virgins until marriage (Allendorf, ; Desai & Andrist, ). Women marrying young helps ensure that they do not have time to endanger their reputations though interactions with men.…”

Section: Conceptualizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Early Women, Late Men: Timing Attitudes and Gender Differences in Marriage

Allendorf

Thornton

Mitchell

et al. 2017

J of Marriage and Family

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Around the world, women marry earlier than men, but it is not well understood why this gender gap exists. Using panel data collected in Nepal, the authors investigate whether attitudes about marital timing held by unmarried youth and their parents account for women marrying earlier than men. They also examine whether the influence of timing attitudes differs by gender. On average, unmarried youth and their parents viewed 20 to 25 as acceptable ages for women to marry, while ages 23 to 30 were appropriate for men. In turn, women entering the acceptable marriage age range earlier than men accounted for a third of the gender gap in marital timing. The influence of youth and parents’ timing attitudes did differ by gender, but only at the extreme. When they were much too young for marriage, both genders were less likely to marry, but this dampening effect was substantially larger for women.

show abstract

“…It is also important to distinguish between abstract and concrete developmental idealism (Allendorf, 2017). Abstract developmental idealism refers to schemas that pertain to the nature of the world in general, a country, or other broader collectives.…”

Section: Background Conceptualization and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parents’ Valuation of Approving a Child’s Spouse in a Context of Marital Change

Allendorf

2019

Journal of Family Issues

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Previous research on arranged marriage focuses on young people getting married. In this article, the author turns the focus toward parents, examining whether Nepali parents value approving their child’s future spouse. A fifth of parents did not value approving their child’s spouse. They then investigated which parents value such approval less than others and how these connections differ by gender. Parents who had low-quality relationships with their children and believed it is better, in general, for children to choose their own spouses were less likely to value approval. Parents of children with salaried work experience, especially mothers of daughters, were also less likely to value approval. By contrast, children’s education, parents’ marital experience, and valuation of parental respect were not important. Believing arranged marriage and respect for parents will decrease in the future and that parents relinquish spouse approval in exchange for old age support were also unimportant.

show abstract

Conflict and Compatibility? Developmental Idealism and Gendered Differences in Marital Choice

Cited by 19 publications

References 56 publications

Associations between village-level norms on marital age and marital choice outcomes among adolescent wives in rural Niger

Associations between village-level norms on marital age and marital choice outcomes among adolescent wives in rural Niger

Early Women, Late Men: Timing Attitudes and Gender Differences in Marriage

Parents’ Valuation of Approving a Child’s Spouse in a Context of Marital Change

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About