|
Soviet Union [USSR] Male-Female Relationships
Male-female relationships in the Soviet Union reflected not
only the stresses generally present in urban and industrial
societies, plus those peculiar to communist societies, but also the
influence of different cultural traditions. Predictably, the nonRussian Central Asian and Caucasian nationalities exhibited more
traditional attitudes regarding marriage, divorce, and abortion
than did the European population of the country.
Marriage
Unless specified otherwise by the laws of the individual
republics, Soviet citizens may marry at age eighteen without
parental permission. The Latvian, Estonian, Moldavian, Ukrainian,
Armenian, Kazakh, and Kirgiz republics have lowered this age to
seventeen years. In 1980 approximately 73 percent of the brides and
62 percent of the grooms were under twenty-five years of age. Onethird of all marriages involved persons under twenty years of age,
and in 20 percent of the marriages involving persons under that age
the bride was pregnant.
In the larger cities, newly married couples often lived with
either set of parents; often the honeymoon consisted of a short
private stay in the parents' home. About 70 percent of childless
young couples lived with parents during the first years of marriage
because of low income or a shortage of housing.
Cultural compatibility played a larger role in the selection of
a mate than did race, religion, occupation, or income. Soviet
surveys also pointed to love, mutual attraction, and common
interests as important reasons given for marriage. British
sociologist David Lane has observed that "companionship" between
spouses has been a more important notion in the West than in the
Soviet Union, where couples have often taken separate vacations
while the children were sent to camp.
Data as of May 1989
|
