Outline for Project’s Literature Review

Arranged Marriages: A Phenomenological study

I. Purpose: To review research literature relating to mental health and satisfaction of women in arranged marriages

A. Personal statement: My great desire has been to become a psychologist as opposed to the wish of my parents. I was a victim to arranged marriage and it’s my great aspirations to be a scholar and clinical psychologist who will contribute to the society.

B. Hypothesis: The life satisfaction and mental health for women in arranged marriages has many underlying negative impacts.

II. Need to discuss history of pre-arranged marriages.  Its origins.  What particular cultures/communities it is practiced.  The rationale for such marriages.  Any identified benefits of such marriages?? If so, for whom??

III. Factors leading to arranged marriages 

A. Parental pressure

B. Cultural pressure

C. Social economic status

IV. I would expand this to consider overall negative impact of such marriages and then transition to -Mental health and the life satisfaction of women who are in arranged marriages

A. Quality of life experienced in arranged marriages

B. Causes of mental health in arranged marriages 

1. Emotional effects

2. Sexual and psychological pressure

3. Effects of arranged marriages on the self esteem of a woman 

4. Depression and anxiety in arranged marriages

5. Intellectual disability

V. Marital satisfaction in relation to psychological pressure

A. Feelings of women in arranged marriages

1. Marital adjustments

2. Personal happiness 

3. Marital happiness

4. Spousal support in forced marriages

VI. The relationship of spouses in forced marriages

A. Women participation in the family of arranged marriages

B. Social support for women in forced marriages

C. Quality of life and social support relations 

D. Age and education in relation to social life

E. The effects of women’s’ physical health in arranged marriages

Mental health and life satisfaction of women in arranged marriages

Introduction

The literature aims to provide additional research on women’s mental health and life satisfaction in arranged marriages. The literature comprises the foundational knowledge of such marriages and gives a justification for my future research. The review will assist as my research will be within its contexts; though, it will identify the need to study women’s lives in such marriages further (Diamond-Smith et al. 2020). The literature identifies gaps in the research, inconsistencies, and conflicts, thus determining future research. The literature review encompasses the contribution of different scholars on arranged marriages. It focuses on the effects of such marriages on mental health by exposing women’s negative side (Kizilhan, 2017). The literature review will also discuss the study on the history of such marriages. The endeavor also looks at the possible research direction on women’s mental health and their life satisfaction in such marriages. The review has been written through empirical and critical content consideration of different peer-reviewed works on family life.

According to the literature review, I have considered the gap in family satisfaction and mental health effects specifically on arranged marriages. Marriage is regarded as a significant phenomenon while discovering the problems related to life satisfaction and mental health. Marriage has great significance in one’s life and is one of the most intense relations in adult life. However, not every person in the society wishes to get married; some opt not to marry due to different reasons such as religious beliefs such as Christianity. The quality of the relationship for the married couple determines the experience in the entire family life (Sarachaga, 2018). On focusing on arranged marriages, marriage experience has different mental effects on the spouses throughout the family life if there are abuse cases to a partner. An arranged marriage occurs whereby the parents, elders, and family relatives lead choosing a wed partner. Arranged marriage can lead to a forced marriage if the spouses do not consent to it in some cases. There are many negative impacts on women’s mental health and life satisfaction in arranged marriages in such occurrences.

Personal statement

One of my primary goals in life has been to become a psychologist, but my parents had wished I would be either an engineer or a doctor. I was born in Vietnam to a Chinese mother and my father who was half Vietnamese and half French. My goal of becoming a psychologist was real until my arranged marriage at almost 16-years-old, which was planned by parents without my knowledge, mostly planned by my mother. This was after I had been in the United States since 8-years-old, and was doing well at Independence High School in San Jose, California. In other words, I had become very assimilated, very Americanized. I had no option as I did not want to disappoint my parents even though I thought of escaping by running away from our home. In the final analysis, I did not want to bring shame to my parents and my family.

While married and after having three daughters at such a young age, I decided to start a small business to be independent and have flexibility in work schedules to include my children’s different life aspects. I wish to be close to my three daughters in their academic, recreational, sports, and other social lives because I want to help them. I have been very good at listening to others and solving problems since high school in San Jose, California.

One of my great intentions has been to ensure my daughters get the best opportunities in life and never be victims of arranged marriages. I want them to be independent individuals in their future lives.

Through my life experience as a young woman of an arranged marriage and a refuge from Vietnam, helping and financially supporting my two younger brothers has laid a good foundation for being a mother two three grown daughters, a small business owner my whole adult life, and pursing my goal of becoming a clinical psychologist. The review will help me to find out more information to help more people in my mental health career. It will help to engage in helpful research on the mental health concerns and problems associated with women in arranged marriages. The research on the quality of life for such a case will also be my research’s major concern. This is because there are many more mental health concerns and problems for women as compared to men in arranged marriages.

Hypothesis

Women’s mental health has raised a major concern in the world for those who have been in arranged minds (Olcay, Ads & Weisfeld, 2019). Many of the women clients in clinical psychology showed they all had problems with mental health. According to the research conducted earlier, the number of women with mental health problems is higher than men in the same situation. This has indicated the problem might be due to the union’s pressure, which was entered through enough consent. The quality of life in arranged marriages has been a subject to consider in the attempt to configure while the mental health problems are mostly affecting women in such marriages. The main aim is to produce quality knowledge that can be relied on to give intervention to the family issues in arranged marriages. The quality of marriage is likely to affect the mental health of the spouses and their well being. However, marital quality is tricky as there is no standardized operational instrument used but depending on life’s ethical considerations in arranged marriages. The negative issues in the arranged marriages, which are expected causes, will be found by reviewing different literature (Sarachaga, 2018).

The literature review’s theoretical context aims to bring more problems that might affect women in marriages and are uneasy to find out. Different literature has been reviewed to bring the existing knowledge on the health problems concerning arranged marriages and focus on bringing more hidden problems, which might cause health problems on women under such marriages. The marital pressure and responsibilities in such unions will be configured through the review and contribute to the research.

The quality of marriage is related to the spouses’ mental health (Olcay, Ads & Weisfeld, 2019). Mental health is greatly affected by expectations in arranged marriages, which are not achieved. Arranged marriage is by one or both of the spouses do not give their content in the union. Men seem to greatly influence the lives of women in such unions, thus contributing to their poor health. However, the participants willingly accept the marriage; many consequences affect the relationship between the two spouses.

In most cases, the women do not have consent in the arrangements as both families negotiate and give their daughter to the male spouse. Women’s autonomy in this kind of marriage is low, and the fundamental love notion is not considered, which can lead to mental illness in women. The satisfaction of love, friendship, interest, sexual gratification, and treatment is a fundamental aspect that can affect women’s lives in arranged marriages. The truth on whether the health problems for women who are victims of such unions are related to the kind of life will be found out through different literature reviews. Being victims of arranged marriages has many difficulties, and life is a mess as you have to live like strangers in the same house. Life satisfaction and mental health for women in arranged marriages have many underlying negative impacts.

References

Olcay Imamoğlu, E., Ads, M., & Weisfeld, C. C. (2019). What is the impact of choosing one’s spouse on marital satisfaction of wives and husbands? The case of arranged and self-choice Turkish marriages. Journal of Family Issues, 40(10), 1270-1298.

Diamond-Smith, N. G., Dahal, M., Puri, M., & Weiser, S. D. (2020). Semi-arranged marriages and dowry ambivalence: Tensions in the changing landscape of marriage formation in South Asia. Culture, health & sexuality, 22(9), 971-986.

Sarachaga-Barato, N. (2018). Forced Child and Arranged Marriages. In Handbook of Sex Trafficking (pp. 85-92). Springer, Cham.

Kizilhan, J. I. (2017). Forced marriage and mental health by migrants in Germany. Arch Community Med Public Health, 3(2), 071-076.

Bopha Tep Page 1 of 5

Personal Statement June 28, 2018

Personal Statement

Since high school, I have always wanted to become a psychologist even though my parents would rather have seen me become a medical doctor or an engineer. This was a big part of my childhood from being born to a Chinese mother and a half Vietnamese and half French father. I was their third of five children that was born in Vietnam. I have been living in the United States since I was 8-years-old.

I decided to become a small business owner in order to be independent and to have the flexibility in my work schedule to be involved in all levels of my three children’s lives, all daughters, which included their academics, sports and a myriad of other social and recreational activities. The impetus for being closely involved in my daughters’ lives can be traced back to when I was 16-years-old. At that time, I was very assimilated and enjoyed high school in San Jose, California, and my goal was to become a psychologist because I was very good at listening to people and helping them to solve problems until my parents, primarily my mother, wanted me to have an arranged marriage. I had thoughts of running away from home, but I eventually went along with the arranged marriage so as not to disappoint and bring shame to my parents.

My biggest accomplishment during my arranged marriage was when I became a mother to three beautiful girls. I have always wanted to provide my daughters with the best opportunities so that they can become independent individuals. This included making sure that they would never be subjected to arranged marriages.

Besides helping my daughters, I have helped many people over years as a small business owner. My current business of 11 years, the Fat Cat Café in the Uptown District of Downtown Oakland, has become the primary eating place for the Oakland School for Arts (OSA), which is an 800-student Charter school, about a block away from the café. Over the years, I have listened to and advised them, the staff, teachers and administrators. I have also listened to and advised small business owners in the Uptown neighborhood who often come to me for both business and personal advice. I am also very proud of my reviews on YELP in relation to the Fat Cat Café, with most of them being very positive about my café and me.

While working at the Fat Cat Café, I attended junior college, and took some courses at San Jose State University, with the goal of taking courses in my pursuit of a doctoral degree in psychology. I took enough courses until I had enough coursework to apply to and to be accepted into California State University, East Bay (CSUEB) where I completed an intensive online undergraduate program in Human Development with a Women’s Development Option. The program provided me with the flexibility to work fulltime and go to school. The challenge of distance learning for me was getting used to not having real human contact with my classmates and professors, but after a short while, it was like they were right next to me having deep and sometimes very intense conversations online. Overall, the distance learning experience gave me an opportunity to work fulltime and to go to school fulltime, with me honing my planning and organizational skills, which were already pretty good.

While at CSUEB, I was required to take HDEV 3203 (Applying Theory and Methods of Human Development), a course that required students to complete a volunteer work. Being that my goal is to become a clinical psychologist, I was advised and chose to do volunteer work at the Crisis Support Services of Alameda County (CSS). I completed a 90-hour extensive training program over 4 months that included in-class lectures and discussions and working one-on-one with a trainer on the crisis lines. I signed an agreement to volunteer at CSS a minimum of 52 weeks working a minimum of 4 hours per week beginning during April 2015; I kept the same schedule for a year and half. I am continuing to work on the Crisis Line on an as-needed basis, especially during the holiday season. Besides providing exemplary crucial intervention services for individuals and their families in crisis, I have gained unique insight and experience in the mental health field while working collaboratively with a supportive interdisciplinary team.

I think that the Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology program at Saybrook University is the perfect fit for me because its client-centered approach, and the in-depth courses and training align with how I approach life and with my goals. I also think that the program will provide me with a unique opportunity to understand and conduct substantive research. Although women’s and children’s issues are important areas of focus for me, I am flexible and open to the opportunity of broadening my knowledge in order for me to better contribute to society as a scholar and clinical psychologist.

In the final analysis, I believe that your Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology program will provide me with an excellent opportunity to take and pass the National Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP) and the California Psychology Laws and Ethics Examination (CPLEE). I believe that being a refuge from Vietnam at a young age, being in an arranged marriage, helping to parent and financially support two younger brothers, raising three beautiful daughters, being a successful small business woman for many years, helping many people who have come to my café, working on a Crisis Line, and recently earning a B.A. in Human Development with a Women’s Development Option from CSUEB has provided me with an excellent foundation and a myriad of interests. I think that completing the Ph.D. in clinical psychology program at Saybrook University will provide me with the best education and training to ultimately achieve my goal of becoming a clinical psychologist. I truly believe that becoming a licensed clinical psychologist will better enable me to help as many people as possible in pursing happiness and self-actualization.