Abstract
Polygamous marriages are widespread and accepted among Israel’s Bedouin-Arabs. Yet despite polygamy’s many effects on family members, there is almost no research on the experience of adolescents in these families and the effects of the second marriage on their relationship with the father. The current study is a pioneering effort to shed light on the feelings of severe injury among adolescent girls whose fathers have taken a second wife. Thirty in-depth interviews were conducted in 2016 and 2018 with participants ages 18–22, and the data underwent a qualitative thematic analysis. The findings shed light on parent–child relations in the context of marriage, separation, and family reconstitution. They highlight situations of family conflict that generate stress for family members. Three coping patterns of the adolescent girls are identified, offering a glimpse of how a generation of young women in patriarchal traditional societies may begin to challenge longstanding and widely accepted practices and ideas regarding the family. Interventions are proposed at the macro, mezzo, and micro levels.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abu-Rabia-Queder, S. (2007). Coping with ‘forbidden love’ and loveless marriage: Educated Bedouin women from the Negev. Ethnography, 8, 297–323.
Al-Krenawi, A. (1998). Family therapy with a multiparental/multispousal family. Family Process, 37, 65–82.
Al-Krenawi, A. (2014). Psychosocial impact of polygamy in the Middle East. New York: Springer.
Al-Krenawi, A., Graham, J. R., & Al Gharaibeh, F. (2011). A comparison study of psychological, family function marital and life satisfactions of polygamous and monogamous women in Jordan. Community Mental Health Journal, 47(5), 594–602.
Al-Krenawi, A., & Jackson, S. (2015). Dilemmas in practicing social work with indigenous people: The Arab case. International Journal of Child Health and Human Development, 8, 115–131.
Al-Krenawi, A., & Slonim-Nevo, V. (2008). Psycho-social and familial functioning of children from polygamous and monogamous families. Journal of Social Psychology, 148, 745–764.
Al-Krenawi, A., Slonim-Nevo, V., & Graham, J. (2006). Polygyny and its impact on the psychosocial wellbeing of husbands. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 37, 173–189.
Allassad Alhuzail, N. (2009). The significance of change in the lives of three generations of Bedouin women. (Doctoral thesis, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, Israel). [Hebrew]
Allassad Alhuzail, N. (2013). The double meaning of protection in the lives of Bedouin women. Social Issues in Israel: A Sociology Journal, 15, 58–86. [Hebrew].
Allassad Alhuzail, N. (2014). “The blessing” in the lives of three generations of Bedouin women. Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work, 29, 30–42.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 31, 77–101.
Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Dinero, S. C. (2012). Neo-polygamous activity among the Bedouin of the Negev, Israel: Dysfunction, adaptation or both? Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 43, 495–503.
Daoud, N., O'Campo, P., Minh, A., Urquia, M. L., Dzakpasu, S., Heaman M., … Chalmers, B. (2014). Patterns of social inequalities across pregnancy and birth outcomes: A comparison of individual and neighborhood socioeconomic measures. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth, 14, 393.
Dwairy, M. (1998). Cross cultural counseling: The Arab Palestinian Case. New York: Haworth Press.
Elbedour, S., Onwuegbuzie, A., & Alatamin, M. (2003). Behavioral problems and scholastic achievement among Bedouin-Arab children from polygamous and monogamous marital family structures: Some developmental considerations [Monograph]. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 129, 213–237.
Greenberg, L., & Johnson, S. (2010). Emotionally focused therapy for couples. Toronto: Sage.
Gribiea, A., & Abu-Saad, I. (2017). New mass communication media and the identity of Negev Bedouin Arab youth in Israel: In conversation with Edward Said. Journal of Holy Land and Palestine Studies, 16, 99–123.
Kaplan, H., & Madjar, N. (2015). Autonomous motivation and pro-environmental behaviors among Bedouin-Arab students in Israel: A self-determination theory perspective. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 31, 223–247.
Khasawneh, O., Hijazi, A. H. Y., & Salman, N. H. (2011). Polygamy and its impact on the upbringing of children: A Jordanian perspective. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 42, 563–575.
Lazarus, R. S. (1993). Coping theory and research: Past, present and future. Psychosomatic Medicine, 55, 234–247.
Lev-Wiesel, R., & Al-Krenawi, A. (2000). Perception of family among Bedouin-Arab children of polygamous families as reflected in their family drawings. American Journal of Art Therapy, 38, 98–106.
Lieblich, A., Tuval-Mashiach, R., & Zilber, T. (1998). Narrative research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Marey-Sarwan, I., Roer-Strier, D., & Otto, H. (2018). Contextualizing risk and protection: Perceptions of Bedouin mothers from unrecognized villages in the Naqab. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 88, 306–315.
Marshall, S. E., & Read, J. G. (2003). Identity politics among Arab-American women. Social Science Quarterly, 84, 875–891.
Meir, A. (1997). As nomadism ends: The Israeli Bedouin of the Negev. New York: Westview Press.
Morse, J. M., Barrett, M., Mayan, M., Olson, K., & Spiers, J. (2002). Verification strategies for establishing reliability and validity in qualitative research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 1, 13–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/160940690200100202.
Nasasra, M. (2012). The ongoing Judaisation of the Naqab and the struggle for recognizing the indigenous rights of the Arab Bedouin people. Settler Colonial Studies, 12, 81–107.
Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research evaluation methods (3rd ed.). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Pessate-Schubert, A. (2003). Changing from the margins: Bedouin women and higher education in Israel. Women’s Studies International Forum, 26, 285–298.
Saar, A. (2006). “Kavya”: Al nashim hazakot ba-hevra ha-palestinit be-yisrael. (Kavya: On strong women in Palestinian society in Israel.) In H. Herzog, T. Kohavi, & S. Zelniker (Eds.), Dorot, merhavim, zehuyot: Mabatim achsavi’im al hevra ve-tarbut be-yisrael (pp. 369–393). (Generations, spaces, identities: Contemporary views of society and culture in Israel.) Jerusalem: The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and Hakibbutz Hameuchad. [Hebrew]
Shepard, L. (2013). The impact of polygamy on women’s mental health: A systematic review. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 22, 47–62.
Shkedi, A. (2003). Words that try to touch: Qualitative research—Theory and practice. Tel Aviv: Ramot. [Hebrew].
Shkedi, A. (2011). The meaning behind the words: Methodologies of qualitative research—Theory and practice. Tel Aviv: Ramot. [Hebrew].
Shohat, E. (1992). Notes on the “post-colonial.” Social Text, Nos. 31/32, Third World and Post-Colonial Issues, 99–113.
Slonim-Nevo, V., & Al-Krenawi, A. (2006). Success and failure among polygamous families: The experience of wives, husbands and children. Family Process, 45, 311–331.
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Taylor, S. E. (1999). Health psychology (4th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Treister-Goltzman, Y., & Peleg, R. (2014). Health and morbidity among Bedouin women in southern Israel: A descriptive literature review of the past two decades. Journal of Community Health, 29, 819–825.
Tutty, L. M., Rothery, M. A., & Grinnell, R. M. (1996). Qualitative research for social workers. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Wetchler, J., & Piercy, F. (2011). Transgenerational family therapies. In F. Piercy, D. Sprenkle, & J. Wetchler (Eds.), Family therapy sourcebook (pp. 25–49). New York: Guilford.
Acknowledgements
This study received no specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Alhuzail, N.A. Being a Girl in a Polygamous Family Implications and Challenges. Child Adolesc Soc Work J 37, 97–107 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-019-00623-w
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-019-00623-w