Learning Achievement, Social Adjustment, and Family Conflict Among Bedouin-Arab Children From Polygamous and Monogamous Families

Abstract

A sample of 146 Bedouin-Arab pupils from polygamous and monogamous families participated in this study, which was conducted in a Bedouin-Arab village in the Negev, Israel. The authors compared learning achievement, social adjustment, and family conflict. Data revealed differences between the two groups: The children from monogamous families had higher levels of learning achievement than did the children from polygamous families; in addition, those from monogamous families adjusted to the school framework better than did those from polygamous families. The mean conflict rating of children from polygamous families was higher than that of their counterparts from monogamous families. The father's level of education tended to be inversely correlated with family size in terms of both number of children and number of wives.

The effects of polygamy on children and adolescents: a systematic review

“…This review provided no evidence to support this suggestion. The few studies that focussed on younger children (e.g., Al-Krenawi & Lightman, 2000) found a similar pattern of results to those of adolescents. Given the paucity of cross-sectional studies comparing age groups or longitudinal studies considering effects over time, we agree with Elbedour et al (2000) that the impact of polygamy across the course of development requires further empirical attention.…”

“…Three studies reported that family income and/or parental employment was lower in polygynous than monogamous families (Al-Krenawi et al, 2002;Al-Krenawi & SlonimNevo, 2008, Hamden et al, 2009, two reported no differences in the range of occupations (Al-Krenawi & Lightman, 2000;Bamgbade & Saloviita, 2014) and the remaining 8 papers did not report extractable information to compare family income/occupations. This lack of consistency in reports of parental education and income creates difficulties for proposing these variables as influential variables for child and adolescent outcomes.…”

“…Comparisons between parental education and income or employment were carried out in 7 of the 13 studies. Statistically significant differences for fathers' education were found in 5 studies, with lower levels and/or fewer years of education found for polygynous fathers than monogamous fathers (Al-Krenawi et al, 2002;Al-Krenawi & Lightman, 2000;Al-Krenawi & Slonim-Nevo, 2008;Elbedour, Bart & Hektner, 2003;Hamdan, Auerbach & Apter, 2009). Two studies found no significant differences in father education between polygynous and monogamous families (Bamgbade, & Saloviita, 2014;Elbedour, Hektner, Morad & Abu-Bader, 2003).…”

“…One paper reported that none of the mothers had attended school (Al-Krenawi & Lightman, 2000). The remaining 9 papers did not report the mother's education.…”

“…None of the papers included in the review found more mental health problems experienced by young people from monogamous families when compared to those from polygynous families. Table 3 shows that academic achievement as measured by examination results or school reports was found to be lower among children from polygynous families than monogamous families in 3 of the 7 studies reporting on this variable (Al-Krenawi & Lightman, 2000;AlKrenawi & Slomin-Nevo, 2008;Elbedour, Onwuegbuzie & Alatamin, 2003). This only affected adolescent girls with 3 or 4 mothers in one study (Elbedour et al, 2000).…”