attachment figure transference, caregiving styles and marital satisfaction in arranged and love ...

129 Pages·2010·1.09 MB·English

ATTACHMENT FIGURE TRANSFERENCE, CAREGIVING STYLES AND
MARITAL SATISFACTION IN ARRANGED AND LOVE MARRIAGES

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
OF
MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

BY

ELÇĠN GÜNDOĞDU AKTÜRK

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR
THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN
THE DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY

JULY 2010

I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and
presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare
that, as required by these rules and ethical conduct, I have fully cited and
referenced all material and results that are not original to this work.

Name, Surname: Elçin Gündoğdu Aktürk
Signature :

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ABSTRACT

ATTACHMENT FIGURE TRANSFERENCE, CAREGIVING STYLES AND
MARITAL SATISFACTION IN ARRANGED AND LOVE MARRIAGES

Gündoğdu Aktürk, Elçin
M.S., Department of Psychology
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Nebi Sümer

July 2010, 113 pages

The study aims to investigate the effects of married women‟s attachment security,
caregiving styles, how they initiated marriage (i.e., love vs. arranged) and whether
they have egalitarian or traditional marriage on their marital satisfaction and
attachment figure transference to their husband. It is expected that attachment to
spouse would be stronger and attachment functions would be transferred earlier in
love marriages than arranged marriages. Moreover, caregiving styles, attachment
security, and egalitarian structure of marriage are expected to predict transference of
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attachment functions to husbands and marital satisfaction. Married women (N = 204)
filled out a questionnaire package including the measures of division of labor in
house chores, significant people in their life, attachment anxiety and avoidance,
caregiving styles, and marital satisfaction. A series of ANCOVA controlling for the
duration of marriage was conducted to compare the participants with arranged and
love marriages. Separate hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to predict
attachment strength and satisfaction separately for love and arranged marriages.
Results revealed no significant difference between arranged and love marriages on
the strength and timing of attachment figure transference to spouse. In both types of
marriage, sensitive and responsive caregiving styles and low attachment avoidance
were associated with stronger attachment to spouse. Although those with egalitarian
relationships reported higher levels of marital satisfaction in both love and arranged
marriages, women with both egalitarian and love marriages reported the highest
levels of marital satisfaction than those with traditional and love marriage. The
findings were discussed considering cultural context and previous work.

Keywords: Attachment figure transference, Attachment anxiety and attachment
avoidance, Caregiving styles, Division of labor, Love-initiated and arranged
marriages
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ÖZ

GÖRÜCÜ USULÜ VE AġK EVLĠLĠKLERĠNDE BAĞLANMA FĠGURÜ
AKTARIMI, BAKIM VERME STĠLLERĠ VE EVLĠLĠK DOYUMU

Gündoğdu Aktürk, Elçin
Yüksek Lisans, Psikoloji Bölümü
Tez Yöneticisi: Prof. Dr. Nebi Sümer

Temmuz 2010, 113 sayfa

Bu çalıĢmanın amacı kadınların evlilikteki bağlanma kaygı ve kaçınmalarının,
eĢlerine bakım verme stillerinin, görücü usulü veya aĢk evliliği yapmıĢ olmalarının
ve demokratik veya geleneksel evliliğe sahip olmalarının evlilik doyumlarına ve
eĢlerine bağlanma figürü aktarımına olan etkilerini incelemektir. Görücü usülü
evliliklere göre aĢk evliliklerinde eĢe bağlanmanın daha güçlü olacağı ve
bağlanmanın temel bileĢenlerinin eĢe daha çabuk aktarılacağı öngürülmüĢtür. Ayrıca,
eĢe bakım verme stillerinin, bağlanmaya iliĢkin bireysel farklılıkların (örneğin
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bağlanma kaygı ve kaçınma düzeyleri) ve demokratik evlilik yapısının hem
bağlanmanın temel bileĢenlerinin eĢe aktarımıyla hem de evlilik doyumuyla iliĢkili
olmaları beklenmektedir. Evli kadınlara (N = 204) günlük ev iĢlerinin paylaĢımını,
yaĢamlarındaki önemli kiĢileri, bağlanmaya iliĢkin bireysel farklılıklarını, eĢlerine
bakım verme stillerini ve evlilik doyumlarını değerlendiren bir anket uygulanmıĢtır.
Görücü usulü veya aĢk evliliği yapmıĢ katılımcıları baĢlıca değiĢkenler açısından
karĢılaĢtırmak için evlilik süresi kontrol edilerek bir dizi ANCOVA analizi
yapılmıĢtır. Ayrıca, bağlanma gücünü ve evlilik doyumunu yordamak için iki evlilik
grubu için ayrı ayrı aĢamalı regresyon analizleri yapılmıĢtır. Bulgular iki evlilik
grubu arasında bağlanmanın temel bileĢenlerinin aktarımı, aktarım gücü ve zamanı
bakımından anlamlı farklılık olmadığını göstermiĢtir. Her iki evlilik tipinde de
kadınların duyarlı ve uyumlu bakım verme stilleri, ve düĢük kaçınma düzeyleri eĢe
bağlanma gücüyle ve eĢe bağlanma figürü aktarımıyla olumlu yönde iliĢkili
bulunmuĢtur. Evliliğin gelenekselden ziyade demokratik bir yapıya sahip olması her
iki evlilik grubunda da evlilik doyumunu olumlu yönde etkilerken, gruplar arasında
hem aĢk evliliği yapmıĢ hem de demokratik evlilik yapısına sahip olan kadınların en
yüksek evlilik doyumunu rapor ettikleri gözlenmiĢtir. ÇalıĢmanın bulguları kültürel
örüntüler ve geçmiĢ çalıĢmalar dikkate alınarak tartıĢılmıĢtır.

Anahtar kelimeler: Bağlanma figürü aktarımı, Bağlanma kaygı ve kaçınma düzeyleri,
Bakım verme stilleri, Günlük ev iĢlerinin paylaĢımı, Görücü usulü ve aĢk evlilikleri
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To my parents Semra and Hasan Gündoğdu,
to my little brother Erhan Gündoğdu
&
to my dear husband Ozan Serhat Aktürk
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First, I would like to thank my thesis supervisor Prof. Dr. Nebi Sümer for all kinds of
support he has provided, his valuable guidance and his everlasting patience. I have
learned a lot of things from him as a supervisor and I hope I would be learning. I also
want to thank Prof. Dr. Hürol FıĢıloğlu and Assist. Prof. Dr. Ayda BüyükĢahin for
their acceptance to become the jury members, and for their valuable contributions.

Second, I want to show my greatest appreciation to my heartfelt friends, especially
for treating me as if I am a queen. However, I do not really know from whom to start
mentioning my attachment targets, especially for this fatal process. I would like to
express my gratitude to my friend Ayça Özen for her valuable recommendations and
feedbacks in writing this thesis. Gaye Zeynep Çenesiz who is the real queen and
Canan BüyükaĢık-Çolak who is one of my bests deserve special thanks for their
valuable support and warmth. I would like to express my appreciation to Elif Helvacı
who is my dear friend sharing a common fate with me and Fatih Cemil Kavcıoğlu
who is my little son(!) feeling guilty when I was upset because of anything. And
Pınar Bıçaksız is my dear safe haven getting involved into my all needs and big
thanks also goes to her. I also extend my warm regards to my friends Emine Özgüle,
Ali Çolak, Çiğdem BüyükaĢık-ġener, Uğur Arıkan, Dilek SarıtaĢ, Canan CoĢkan,
Tuğba Erol-Korkmaz, Ġlker Dalğar, Nilüfer Ercan, Gizem AteĢ, and Utku Can Arı for
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their support, help and encouragement during the thesis process. I want to mention
the names of Merve Çolak and Zelal Deniz Demir for coloring my life, and my
relatives Pınar Selçuk, Tülay Yüksel, and Esma Gündoğdu also deserve big thanks
for their support in the data collection process. Lastly, Ġrem Sefa, who is my secure
base, was always at end of the phone when I was in the bottom and at the top.
Additionally, I am also thankful to Prof. Dr. H. Canan Sümer and all other chorist
friends for providing meaningful and amazing times during the thesis process.

Finally, I want to thank my whole family for limitless love for me. My mother,
Semra Gündoğdu, was the hero of this process because of full support especially
during data collection. My father, Hasan Gündoğdu, is my hero and I really thank
him for caring, supporting, motivating me, and for his trust on my success all the
time. My little brother, Erhan Gündoğdu, who is my first friend and I am thankful to
him for being in my life. And my husband, Ozan Serhat Aktürk, who always love me
and I wrote this fatal paper due to his unconditional love, patience, support and his
ability of balancing my life. Lastly, I want to thank my grandparents, ġengül-Fevzi
Selçuk who are my bests in life, and my older grandmother Emine Belbüken, for
their efforts while caring and rearing me and my little brother. They always show
unconditional positive regard toward us and support our education since I know
myself.
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