Unregistered marriage, as a form of cohabitation without official relationship confirmation, is gaining increasing popularity among young people. In the context of modern society, where traditional values and norms are being rethought, it is important to understand how the younger generation perceives this institution.

The aim of this scientific article is to conduct a comparative analysis of role expectations and behavioral strategies in conflict situations among young men and women in unregistered marital relationships. The study is aimed at identifying differences and similarities in approaches to conflict resolution between genders, as well as determining the factors influencing the formation of these strategies.

Unregistered marriage, or cohabitation, implies a couple living together without officially registering their relationship with the civil registry office. Unlike traditional marriage, civil marriage has no legal force and does not grant partners the same rights and obligations as registered relationships.

Historically, unregistered marriage emerged as an alternative to traditional marriage, especially in conditions of economic and social change. In the 20th century, particularly in the 1960s-70s, with the rise of the feminist movement and changing social norms, cohabitation became more widespread. In contemporary conditions, there is a further weakening of stereotypes regarding marriage, which creates fertile ground for the spread of unregistered marriages [2].

We hypothesized that in unregistered marital relationships, young men and women demonstrate different role expectations and behavioral strategies in conflict situations, with young men tending to use more aggressive and avoidant approaches to conflict resolution, while young women prefer strategies of compromise and open discussion. This is attributed to traditional gender stereotypes and social norms influencing their perception of roles in relationships.

The study involved 60 young couples aged 18 to 25. The use of the «Behavioral Strategies in Interaction» methodology (K. Thomas) allowed for the identification of the predominant conflict behavior style. The Mann-Whitney U-test for independent samples was used to compare the significance of indicators in the groups of young men and women. The results of the study are presented in Table 1.

Table 1

Expression of Conflict Management Strategies in Adolescents (Mann-Whitney U Test)

Based on the results of Table 1, we see that girls more often than boys use rivalry in conflict situations, they resort to compromise and their conflict is at a higher level than that of boys. This type of behavior contains the desire to achieve one's interests, to the detriment of the interests of another person. Most young men in the study sample believe that it is they who should emerge from the conflict victorious. Rivalry involves setting up and convincing another person of their superior position. Most young men are characterized by power, authoritarianism, impatience with another opinion, orientation only to their position, which leads to frequent occurrence of conflict situations. In a long-term relationship, this style of behavior is not acceptable, it will lead to their collapse. Such relationships can only be strong if the wishes and interests of all involved are taken into account. We believe that young men are more rational and therefore their conflict is at a low level than girls, they are naturally more emotional, therefore, not the ability to show self-regulation in a communicative situation increases their conflict than these results confirm [4].

The second most important strategy for girls is «compromise». Consequently, such girls are looking for an approach to their second half, through partial satisfaction of their interests. The compromise contains an agreement that is based on mutual concessions and temporarily removes the contradiction that arose in the family.

Almost the most important for young men is such a strategy of behavior as «adaptation». Therefore, most young men are ready to make concessions, ready to sacrifice their interests for their good. The girls in the study sample have the same situation, even higher, an important behavior strategy for them — «adaptation». This indicates that girls are ready to give in to their spouses, sacrificing their interests in order to avoid conflict. People with such a strategy of behavior are often characterized by low self-esteem, lack of will and lack of ability to defend their opinions» [5]. The second most important is the strategy of behavior in conflict — «cooperation». «Choosing this strategy of behavior, the girls try to solve the conflict situation so that both sides of the conflict remain satisfied. In any conflict situation, such girls are aimed at solving the problem, and not at blaming» [6]. Girls in a conflict situation are characterized by a strategy of behavior — «avoidance». Consequently, girls try to avoid discussing critical situations, postpone making a difficult decision or defending their interests.

The results of the study using the method «Role expectations and claims in unregistered marital relations» (A. N. Volkova) are presented in Table 2.

Table 2

Level of Role Expectations and Aspirations in Young Men and Women (Mann-Whitney U test)

Based on Table 2, it can be concluded that for young men's most significant values are: external attractiveness of the partner, intimate-sexual component, parental-educational function and household-household, as they have high values. Thus, we can say that the expectations of young men are pragmatic. This means that young men believe that the partner should lead a home life, and the external attractiveness should be at a high level. It is worth noting that girls have quite high rates on all scales.

Based on the results of Table 2, we see that the value of U = 45 was determined in the intimate sexual sphere, with p <0.01, which means that the differences are statistically significant, and young men are more interested in sexual life. No significant differences were found for the remaining scales.

In the scales of parental and educational (claims), social activity (expectations), social activity (claims) — U is in the zone of significance at p <0.05, which means that there are reliable differences in these scales: young men are less interested in their own parental role and in the development of social activity of both partners in an unregistered marriage.

The results of the study allow us to conclude that expectations in an unregistered marriage for girls are less pragmatic than for boys, and are more related to meeting the needs for communication, acceptance, understanding with a partner, having common interests, and mutual emotional support. At the same time, it should be noted that the rest of the expectations: in the household aspect, in social contacts for the girl are also important, so we can say that the expectations of girls in an unregistered marriage are wider than the expectations of boys.

Based on the study, we offer several recommendations for improving communication and resolving conflicts in unregistered relationships:

— Use active listening. You need to carefully listen to your partner, not interrupt or take a defensive position. Active listening helps to avoid misunderstandings and demonstrates to the partner that his opinion is important.

— Use self-statements. Instead of accusations, you need to express your own feelings and emotions. For example, instead of the phrase «You always forget to do what you promised», it is recommended to say «I feel worried when promises are not kept».

— Maintain emotional intimacy. It is important to regularly discuss your feelings without waiting for crisis situations. Emotional intimacy builds trust and helps partners feel safe in relationships.

— Not avoiding conflict, but learning to resolve it. When disagreements arise, you need to focus on the problem, not on the accusations against the partner. Instead of looking for the culprit, you need to try to find a compromise solution that will suit both.

— See a specialist. If communication problems become regular and a compromise cannot be found, you can contact a family psychologist. The specialist will help you look at the situation from the outside and offer effective techniques to improve the dialogue.

Thus, our recommendations will allow partners to resolve interpersonal conflicts, which in turn will contribute to the harmonization of their relationship.

References:

1. Aliyeva, R. R. Conflictology: study. allowance./R. R. Aliyeva, Sh. I. Bulueva, P. K. Magomedova. — M.: Yurayt. — 2019. — 382 p.
2. Kovaleva, A. V. Contradictions of «civil marriage»: psychological and legal accents in sociological review: a collection of scientific works/A. V. Kovalev//Social practices and social forecasting — Khabarovsk, 2021. — 33–39 s.
3. Kovaleva, A. V. Transformation of the concept of «civil marriage»: a collection of scientific articles/A. V. Kovaleva//Social problems in the historical and regional dimension: — Khabarovsk, 2018. — 27–35 s.
4. Leaders, A. G. Psychological examination of the family: study. allowance/A. G. Leaders. — M.: Izdat. Center «Academy», 2019. — 423 s.
5. Svetlov, V. A. Conflictology: a textbook for universities/V. A. Svetlov, V. A. Semenov. — M.: Yuright Publishing House, 2023. — 351 s.