The most prevalent marital and family problems within Palestinian society

In a study to examine the most common problems faced by Palestinian families, on a sample of five families from the village of Masha – Governor Salfit

* Hala Khaled Ahmed wrote: Family is one soul that unites husband and wife, to be individuals that society cannot abandon under any circumstances, and the value of family is embodied in balanced, harmonious actions that interact with society that contains many families , to name a few, and that’s why it’s an entity. It does not only require consideration, but it is a feature that appears in the form of values ​​and principles that individuals grow up with to form a nucleus that expresses the activation of desires for our societies to become cells of progress and stability.

The family is a gathering place, it is the basis of building society, raising children, a symbol of stability, security and a school of morality.
Despite the great importance of the family, it is not devoid of problems, since these problems differ from family to family, according to the different sources and strength of these problems, since family problems express a state of imbalance, the source of which is from within. family or outside, resulting in This means that there is an unsatisfied need of an individual, a family member or a group of individuals within the family, so that it leads to the emergence of behavior or a set of behavior patterns expressed by an individual or a group of individuals who interact with him in a way that is not in accordance with social goals.

In Palestinian society, family problems have significantly and greatly expanded, from various sources, internal or external, as is the case in all Arab societies, as a result of the presence of strong family ties and relations with external systems. societies are diverse, including (economic, social and cultural, including what is related to external interventions, especially parents… etc.), which can have a negative impact on the psychological health and stability of the family, and in this study I will to address the most common family problems in Palestinian society.

Applied framework:
* I chose a sample of five families from the village of Masha, which is located in the province of Salfit, and the sample was chosen randomly, because I used semi-structured interviews as a data collection tool.

* The interview consisted of three questions that focused on the most common problems that Palestinian families face from the wife’s point of view, how to face these problems within the family, as well as how to make decisions within the family, and who has the first and last word in them . These questions were answered as follows:
_ The first question was about what are the most common family problems faced by the surveyed families, and that question was answered in several answers that I reduced to get to the most common problems and the highest percentage among families that should be known and limit the most common problems, and I could summarize them in the following:
1. Nervousness in the husband.
2. It does not provide enough jobs.
3. Low income.
4. Interference of the husband’s family in the affairs of the spouse, especially the husband’s mother (protection)
_ Regarding the second question, I touched on how the family faces problems, and the answers with the highest percentages were as follows:
1. Wife’s coping with problems through crying
2. Wife’s dealing with problems through silence
3. As for the highest rates, they focused on coping with problems through (understanding between spouses) as a means of solving problems.
The interviews were concluded with questions about how decisions are made in the family and who has the first and last word, and the answers were limited to only two aspects, with a slight difference in the proportions of only 20%, namely:
1. The largest percentage of decision-making in most cases in the family rests with the husband, but taking into account the wife’s opinion and participation. As for children and simple things, the decision rests with the wife.
2. The second answer had a slightly smaller share than the first answer, and is based on the fact that decisions are exclusively in the hands of the husband, because he has the first and last word.

The following results were obtained from the above:
The most common problems in Palestinian society, according to the interviewed sample, were problems of internal and external sources. Internal ones arise from the family members themselves, such as problems in the husband’s traits (nervousness), while external ones are revealed in more than one aspect. The first aspect is the problems related to economic conditions. For the family, such as low income and lack of employment opportunities. As for the second aspect, it refers to external interference in the affairs of the spouse and the family in general, and in particular the intervention of the husband’s mother (protection).

Also, on the other hand, the way in which wives solved these problems with silence and crying encouraged the continuation of the problem without reaching a solution, while a high percentage of families from the sample benefited more from understanding between the spouses.

Regarding decision-making within the family, and who has the first and last word in them, there were two close ratios, one of which was the highest percentage and was based on the spouse’s participation in decision-making, and giving the wife a share in decision-making for the children, and the second was that the husband has the first and last word within the family to a slightly lesser extent.
Recommendations:
1. The need to implement a counseling program on several topics:
* Special programs for those about to get married on the importance of this transitional phase, to increase their readiness for marriage and to take responsibility, and to educate about family problems and their causes, and work to raise awareness of the need to ensure that these problems disappear in the future and how to deal with them if they appear.
Counseling programs on topics such as emotional control of spouses.
* Programs for raising efficiency, support and development, whose goal is to employ the abilities and talents of young people or married couples, and use them in creating achievements of their own hands and benefit from them in creating jobs for them, and in this way raise their economic level and increase income, such as encouraging the wife to do sales and e-marketing or teaching someone Spouses are interested in a certain profession to benefit from it as a way to earn a living…etc.

* Family counseling programs through which spouses learn the importance of building a family, from rules, drawing internal and external boundaries… etc., which helps them to be able to limit or free themselves from external interference.

2. The need for support projects to help families whose incomes do not meet life’s needs and obligations.
4. Encouraging television programs to raise awareness of family problems and ways of dealing with them, as well as the need to participate in decision-making between spouses.
In the end, I would like to point out that the family is the seed from which grows the big tree on which societies and nations are born, and there is no progress and development of a country without progress in its families, so preserve the stability and development of your families.

* Student at the Faculty of Graduate Studies, Department of Educational Counseling and Psychology, An-Najah National University