Exploring the Role of Culture in the Privacy of Couples: A Qualitative Study

Subject Areas : Islamic-Iranian Family Studies Journal

Ali Aghajani ¹ , Mohammad Ali Heydari ² , Moohsen Fahim ³

1 - Department of Theology, Jurisprudence and Fundamentals of Islamic Law, Islamic Azad University of Najafabad Branch, Iran
2 - Department of Theology, Jurisprudence and Fundamentals of Islamic Law, Islamic Azad University of Najafabad Branch, Iran
3 - Department of Theology, Jurisprudence and Fundamentals of Islamic Law, Islamic Azad University of Najafabad Branch, Iran

Received: 2023-01-24 Accepted : 2023-06-18 Published : 2023-05-22

Keywords: marital relationships, Couples, privacy, culture,

Abstract :

 Aim: Privacy, as the need of people in the current era, is closely related to a set of beliefs, values, and norms in the form of culture. This issue becomes more important and sensitive in the context of marital relationships  due to various commonalities. Therefore, the present study aimed to explore the role of culture in couples' privacy. Methods: The research was conducted using a qualitative thematic analysis method. The sample consisted of 15 men and women between the ages of 25 and 40 in Isfahan city, who were selected in a purposive method by determining the input and output criteria. Data collection continued through semi-structured interviews until data saturation. Then, they were analyzed using Braun and Clarke's method in six steps with the help of qualitative data software. Results: Based on the data, two main themes about the role of culture in couples' privacy were identified, including challenges in two categories of awareness and dynamics and strategies in two categories of receiving legal and psychological counseling services. Conclusion: According to the findings, culture plays an important role in determining the privacy of couples. In this context, legal and psychological experts can consider this issue in pre-marriage counseling and even formulate interventions to inform spouses.IntroductionThe family has long been a center formed by a kind of legal solidarity due to kinship or marriage bonds (Heydari, 2021); and it is known as the smallest social institution but the main core of any society. In today's world, the concept of privacy is known as one of the most important mental concerns of people, especially family members, which, in addition to being a legal issue, has a lot of psychological burden with it (Fang & Gong, 2020). According to a general opinion, privacy includes a range of people's personal lives that they respect a lot and do not like to be violated or assaulted (Ansari, 2018).Privacy is one of the clearest examples of individual freedom. In the context of the joint relationship of couples, marriage and privacy are not contradictory to each other; this means that each of the spouses can have their privacy and at the same time not neglect each other's personal issues. In fact, privacy between couples means that they can respect each other's feelings and thoughts and not deny their natural human rights (Pour Abdollah & Jilzadeh, 2013).The important point is that people's relationships, especially in a couple's context, are highly influenced by the surrounding social norms, or, in other words, culture (Brummett & Steuber, 2015). Culture is like values, beliefs, traditions and customs that play a role in determining the identity of a group of people (Trasbi, 2006). Culture is an inseparable part of the family and this is where the place of residence, ethnicity and tribe, as well as different customs and expectations are involved in different areas of life and, most importantly, how the family members relate (Sanaei, 1991). Therefore, it can be said that the concept of privacy is relative (Hongladarom, 2016). Now, despite this relativity, the main challenge between marital relationships  is when each of them, with different cultures, has different specific perceptions of how and how much to respect their distance and privacy and share it in their emotional relationships (Baruh et al., 2017). Mirkheshti's research (2014) has addressed the issue that couples' privacy is affected by their attitudes, beliefs, and tendencies. A degree of proportionality in these cases can be a predictor of agreement in the privatized sanctuary and the arena of interactions such as expressing intimacy, trust, and security. The reverse of this case can also create patterns of conflict between spouses, such as a lack of intimacy, mistrust, and a feeling of insecurity. It is in this case that relationships will progress towards peace and continuity or tension and destruction. Fathi et al. (2016) also found in their qualitative research that one of the most important factors in the satisfaction of couples is creating privacy while maintaining respect and receiving support from the main families, because sometimes the collectivist culture of Iranians prevents the formation of privacy for couples.In order to delve deeper into the significance of confidentiality and the impact of culture on couples' privacy, this study aims to conduct a comprehensive investigation. The main objective is to explore the key themes related to the role of culture in couples' privacy and provide answers to pertinent questions.MethodologyIn order to conduct this research, the qualitative method of thematic analysis of Braun & Clarke (2006) was used. The research population included all the married men and women of Isfahan city, based on snowball and targeted sampling, 15 people (9 women and 6 men) entered the research until the data saturation limit was reached. The criteria for entering the research included the passing of more than one year of their lives together, living in Isfahan, age between 25 and 40 years, consent, and a conscious willingness to participate. The criteria for exiting the research were considered deviations from each of the main criteria. In order to collect information, semi-structured interviews were used for an average of 60 minutes at the time and place of the participant's choice. To conduct data analysis, Braun and Clarke's (2006) theme analysis steps were used, with the help of MAXQDA software. This technique consists of six steps, including getting familiar with the data, creating initial codes, searching and recognizing themes, drawing a network of themes, analyzing themes, and compiling the final report. Results and DiscussionBased on the analysis of the data, there are two main themes about the role of culture in the privacy of couples, including challenges in two categories of awareness and dynamics and strategies in two categories of receiving legal and psychological consulting services, each of which has its own sub-categories. As it was found out from the findings, marriage is one of the topics that has gone out of the family in this era. In line with this theme, Mirkheshti (2014) considered private privacy an urban concept. For this reason, it is considered a principle in the lives of people involved with modernity, but it is less important in rural families. In this situation, there is a possibility of cultural conflicts between spouses with different cultural backgrounds, which will definitely be effective in protecting the privacy of couples to the extent that it creates challenges in their life process (Subramaniam et al., 2019). Therefore, considering that in the decision to get married, the emotional or sentimental aspect is considered, it is important for the couple to be aware of each other's cultures. As the analysis of the findings indicated, the dynamic nature of culture has made the definition of privacy more relative than before. By resorting to strategies, the spouses were able to master the challenge of their lack of knowledge, and by understanding the necessity of the concept of their spouse's privacy, they respected it. Getting legal advice from a competent authority is not always accompanied by legal action, but it may be guided to solve the challenges of couples, and perhaps with a legal advice, most of the conflicts caused by the effect of culture on privacy between spouses can be managed. In some cases, even legal advisors lead couples to compromise by referring them to psychologists to receive psychological counseling and skill training services to solve privacy challenges.ConclusionLegal and psychological experts can consider this issue in pre-marriage counseling and even in couples' referrals and even formulate programs and interventions for it in order to make spouses aware.LimitationsAlthough the results of the current research enriched the research background in this field, qualitative research was not exempt from some limitations, such as the lack of generalizability of the findings to other societies and the researcher's subjective judgments during implementation and analysis.SuggestionsOther researchers can examine this issue by examining different native cultures in the country and also in two groups of married men and women and comparing them with the existing findings.Future research can conduct qualitative and quantitative investigations of privacy by considering other effective factors besides culture in order to strengthen the research background.Also, it is possible to examine the role of culture in the privacy of other family members, such as children and parent-child relationships, in qualitative research.The results of this research can be used in developing psychological and legal protocols for premarital counseling and conflict resolution. FundingThe present study was extracted from the doctoral dissertation of the first author in the Department of Theology-Jurisprudence and Fundamentals of Islamic Law, Islamic Azad University, Najaf Abad branch.Ethics approval and consent to participateThe cooperation of the participants was voluntary and consent was received from them at the beginning of the cooperation. 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References:

Ansari, B. (2018). Privacy Law. Tehran: Samt. (Persian)

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative research in psychology, 3(2), 77-101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706QP063OA

Brummett, E. A., & Steuber, K. R. (2015). To reveal or conceal?: Privacy management processes among interracial romantic partners. Western Journal of Communication, 79(1), 22-44. https://doi.org/10.1080/10570314.2014.943417

Baruh, L., Secinti, E., & Cemalcilar, Z. (2017). Online privacy concerns and privacy management: A meta-analytical review. Journal of Communication, 67(1), 26–53. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12276

Fang, S., & Gong, H. (2020). What happens after young adults’“friending” of parents? A qualitative study about mediated family communication and privacy management in China. Mobile Media & Communication, 8(3), 299-317. https://doi.org/10.1177/2050157919879730

Fathi E., Esmaeily M., Farahbakhsh K., & Daneshpour M. (2016). Iranian Satisfied Marriage Model: A Qualitative Grounded Theory Study. Journal of Research in psychological health, 10 (2),10-27. (Persian) http://ensani.ir/fa/article/363937

Hongladarom, S. (2016). A Buddhist theory of privacy. Singapore: Springer 

Mirakhshti, F. (2014(. Privacy between spouses: the field of interactions and conflicts. Journal of Cultural sociology, 4(4), 165–84. (Persian) https://www.sid.ir/paper/241223/fa

Pourabdullah, K. & Jilzadeh, S. (2013). Resolving the conflict between couples' privacy and conjugal rights based on the expediency of family consolidation. Women's Strategic Studies, 17(66), 7-45. (Persian) https://sid.ir/paper/94035/fa .

Subramaniam, M., Kumar, P., Morehouse, S., Liao, Y., & Vitak, J. (2019). Leveraging funds of knowledge to manage privacy practices in families. Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 56(1), 245-254. https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.67

Thrasby, D., (2006). Economy and culture. Translated by Kazem Farhadi. Tehran: Ney.