Almashni 1

Reem Almashni
November 11, 2013
English 1101
Dr. Brayon
Changes in Relationships
Section 1
Settling for less
In the past 50 years relationships have changed tremendously, in both romantic and
sexual aspects. According to a present research completed by the American Psychological
Association, the research stated that people would rather settle for a less romantic relationship
than be single, because they fear being single for the rest of their life. However in the old ages it
was all about being romantic because that is what really made their relationship special
(MacDonald, Maxwel, Joel).

Relationships 50 years ago

I was able to speak first hand with my grandparents who were married in the year 1949.
They told me when they first met each other they fell in love at first sight. They began going on
dates to the park, boat rides, fishing, and pie making; it was only two short months later that they
were married. They then engaged in sexual activity after marriage because back then that was the
way things were done and sex before marriage was frowned upon.

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Trust in relationships
According to Crystal and Hancock long distance relationships have the same percentage
of trust or even a higher percentage of trust, as in those geographically close relationships. I feel
like there is an equal amount or even more trust in long distance relationships because you get to
know the person better through all the communication that is done between the two parties,
unlike in geographically close relationships it might just be built on sex or just intimacy instead
and there might not be as much communication as there is in those long distance relationships
(Crystal, Hancock).

Section 2
Co-habitation
Changes in dating behavior over the past 50 years not only affected marriage but it also
affected the divorce rates, and co-habitations. Co-habitation specifically has changed the scope
of relationships over the past half a century. According to nbcnews.com roughly seventy-seven
percent of relationships in America today involve people who are co-habitating. Nbcnews.com
also states that people actually prefer to co-habitat before committing to a marriage. Forty-three
of the couples that co-habituated before committing to a marriage actually got married
(abcnews.com).

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Divorce
Over the past decade divorce has become more of a norm in society. Fifty years ago to
divorce was almost unheard of and people valued marriage as a sacred commitment. In the
United States today researchers suggest that forty to fifty percent of first time marriages will end
in divorce, and sixty percent of second marriages would not last (divorce.usu.edu). As a result of
the changing culture these new generations of married people seem to not value marriage as
much which leads to such high divorce rates in the long term.

Marriage Today
Todays view on marriage has changed quite substantially over the past few generations.
Younger adults place less value on commitment and monogamy seems to be fading into the past.
This type of outlook on marriage affects people in the long term by causing problems leading to
divorce and unhappy relationships. On the opposing side some couples may enjoy the open
relationships which may actually have their marriages last longer. Changes in the way adolescent
adults view things will continue to happen, thus changing marriage for the good and the bad.

Section 3
Survey Question
In order to go in to further understanding about how relationships changed over the years
I created a survey that contained a series of questionnaire about relationships. The survey was
completed by the participants from the dates November 6th, 2013 until November 12, 2013. The

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survey contained ten questions and thirty participants. The survey was completed by sixteen
males and fourteen females. Sixteen out of my thirty participants were my fellow classmates and
the other fourteen were some of my neighbors and roommates.

Understanding of the Questions

Questions on the survey were created to define specific details in order to go into depth
with my research about relationships. Question one was created to determine the gender of the
participant and question two was created to determine the age of the participant. Question three
was to determine the time period that the participants waited before committing to a relationship.
Question four, five, and six were created to determine the number of participants that are
currently in a relationship, and whether they were happy or content with the relationship that
they are in; however question six was specifically directed to those who were not in a
relationship and it was to determine if they had a desire to be in a relationship with someone or
not. Question seven and eight go together because they are both related to intimacy, question
seven asks if the person would rather be intimate before committing to the relationship, and
question eight asks about the number of partners they would prefer to be with at a time. Question
nine asks the participant to pick the first feature that attacks them to the person. Finally question
ten asks the participant to decide about their marital status for the future.

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Section 4
Results of the Survey
After analyzing the results of the survey to conclude my research about relationships; it
brought my attention to the major differences that men and women have on some of their views
on relationships (please refer to figure 1 in order to follow along). The survey contained 33%
males and females in the age group 18 and 19, 26% in the age group of 20 and 21, and 6% were
in the age group of 22 and 23. On question three the majority of male and female participants
stated that they would wait months until deciding to commit to a relationship. The percentage of
males and females that were currently in a relationship was 30% and they all stated that they
were all happy in the relationship that they are in. However the partakers that were not in a
relationship added up to being 70% of the contributors and 46% of them stated that they would
actually like to be in a relationship and the other 53% indicated that they would rather remain
single. On question number seven majority of males specified that they preferred to be intimate
with their significant other before committing to a relationship with them; however in the results
displayed in females actually favored to wait until after they were committed to a relationship to
be intimate. When asked about the number of partners the members favored to be with at a time
90% of the participants chose one and only 10% choose to be with more than one partner at a
time. Majority of the contributors were most attracted to personality in the person and also
majority of the members also indicated that they would like to be married in the future.

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Differences between Males and Females

While evaluating my survey I noticed some major differences between males and
females views on relationships. On question three females chose to wait months to commit to a
relationship while almost half of males chose to wait weeks to commit to a relationship. Question
six also displayed another dramatic difference between males and females; it stated that more
males wanted to be in a relationship since they are single while females favored to remain single.
Another intense difference between males and females was presented in question eight where all
the female contributors chose to be with only one partner at a time while majority of males
choose to also be with only one partner, yet a few of them chose to be with more than one
companion at a time. While a popular number of males chose personality as their main attraction
to a female, females answers differed into looks, personality and intelligence as their main
attraction.

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Work cited
Crystal Jiang, L., and Jeffrey T. Hancock. "Absence Makes the Communication Grow
Fonder: Geographic Separation, Interpersonal Media, and Intimacy in Dating
Relationships." Journal of Communication (2013). ProQuest.Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
JoNel, Aleccia. "Nbc News Health." NBC News. N.p., 4 Apr. 2013. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
Spielmann, S. S., MacDonald, G., Maxwell, J. A., Joel, S., Peragine, D., Muise, A., &
Impett, E.A. Settling for Less Out of Fear of Being Single. Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology. ProQuest.Web (2013, October 14).
William H. Doherty. How common is divorce and what are the reasons? Journal. (No
Date)