Marriage in the eyes of society
When it come to describing who is a responsible member of a society, marriage is one factor that is considered in Nigeria and other countries of the world, More often than none, some individuals are denied certain responsibilities, not because they are not qualified or capable of handling such responsibilities but because they are not […]
When it come to describing who is a responsible member of a society, marriage is one factor that is considered in Nigeria and other countries of the world, More often than none, some individuals are denied certain responsibilities, not because they are not qualified or capable of handling such responsibilities but because they are not considered matured enough for such responsibilities; all owing to the fact that their relationship status is marked “unmarried”. In family decision-making, mostly, those whom are married are somewhat considered above those whom are not. In most cultures, one is given more respect only to the fact that such is married.
Marriage is such a thing that even when it comes to the issues of wealth and financing, it’s obviously clear that those whom are married have an income higher than their unmarried counterpart. Researchers have found out that married men do experience higher percentage of income than their counterpart, according to a research conducted by economists Joseph Lupton and James P. Smith on the income and wealth of 7,608 household heads in five years, they found that those who married saw income increases of 50 to 100 percent, and net wealth increases of about 400 to 600 percent. Continuously married households had about double the income and four times the net worth of the continuously divorced or never-married, on average. These numbers indicate a significant marriage premium when it comes to saving.
What is behind the raise or increase? Men who marry typically earn more because marriage itself leads to increases in income; that is, men who marry, work harder, work smarter, and earn more than their unmarried peers. And researchers have found that marriage is connected to norms and expectations of accountability and fiscal responsibility that encourage the wise use of resources. Cohabiting couples, in contrast, are less likely to pool resources, feel obligated to spend wisely and save, or invest in the future of the household. (The Scale of our union, 2015)
The advantage is not limited only to the aforementioned, as several researchers have found out that those whom are married are: More likely to live longer, physically healthier, mentally healthier, happier, recover from illness quicker and more successfully, Generally, they take better care of themselves and avoid risky behaviors than their counterpart. Many studies have shown that those whom are married have a greater likelihood of living longer than their unmarried counterparts. The association between marriage and decreased mortality has even been established in studies conducted in a wide variety of cultures. UCLA Professor Robert Coombs found, “Virtually every study of mortality and marital status shows the unmarried of both sexes have higher death rates, whether by accident, disease, or self-inflicted wounds and this is found in every country that maintains accurate health statistics.” The reasons married people tend to live longer are not fully understood, but researchers hypothesized that the benefit could be as a result of the economic advantages of marriage. Another health benefit of marriage is emotional support. Researchers have found and concluded that emotional support from a spouse can help people recover from both minor and major illnesses and even help cope with chronic diseases. The health benefits enjoyed by married people do not exist in other types of intimate relationships. Unlike marriage, cohabitation is negatively associated with both financial satisfaction and health.
Apart from the social, economical and the Health benefits, Marriage has its spiritual benefits; it is so important that it became the first sociological guideline laid down for man by God. God recognized the sociological need for such a close relationship, and He says: “It is not good for the man to be alone”. For both Christian and Islam, marriage has been a ground for bringing up children that will be responsible people in the society. Parents teach their children morals and how to respect other people.
Researchers have found out that children born at a later age of their parents are less likely to be healthier than those born when the parents were young, because the health-status of the parents has a significant effect of the health of their children even before they are born. Dr. Wicberg of UCLA found out that children born at later age of their parents are prone to be sicker, have lesser IQ and are not as healthy as their counterparts.
According to a research conducted by the United nation (as published by Aljazeera website on October 20th 2015) on the relativity of marriage among youth and adults, conducted in 145 different countries suggested that there has been a profound inclination in the ages as to which Youth and adults do get marry: the report concluded that marriage is now becoming obsolete, something of lesser value to the society and humanity at large. In Nigeria, most men marry at the ages of 29-35 which wasn’t the way it used to be before.
The question one may be compelled to ask is why is marriage been delayed? Why does it take longer to settle? Many people tend to give reasons to why they delay before settling and most of those people in a way regret the fact that they delayed.
Most people associate the delay in marriage to the financial obligations attached to the wedding, as the average expense for a wedding in the North is 100,000 for the Muslims and 450,000 for the Christians. Most of the youths are not earning as much as such amount to be saved. One may simply ask, are these expense necessary for a wedding? In both the Islamic and Christian examples of weddings, such will in a way be considered as an extravagance, because most of the things required by the Bride’s family from Grooms are not mandatory for the wedding and are in a way a selfish interest of some parents or guardians. Why delay your marriage at the expense of your health? Financial freedom? Spiritual inclination and societal validation?
Men of old might have understood the advantages associated to marrying at the appropriate age than we do, that may be one reason why they lived longer and healthier than we are now. If we will get back to the way it was before by avoiding all the un-necessaries of wedding and other societal expectations, we may experience a boost in our health, social, financial and economic status. Keeping in mind that, no matter the amount spent during your wedding (of any kind) it will never be the best-ever. No matter how little you spent, your wedding will never be the worst. Most of all no matter what you do and how you do it, you will never satisfy everyone.
Grace Andrew Zubairu, University of Maiduguri, Department of Mass Communication.