Question

COUPLE INTERVIEW

You are asked to interview a couple who has been married or cohabitating for at least five continuous years and write a paper which summarizes both the interview content and your personal observations and thoughts about the relationship. The interview must be conducted with both parties present at the same time and the interview must be a minimum of 45 minutes long.

Use the following outline to structure your interview and paper:

I. Introduction: Introduce your topic (marriage and family life) and include information about the couple. Be sure to use a fictitious name to protect the confidentiality of the couple. Include information about the couple such as; race, religion, ethnicity, ages, years together as a couple, number and ages of children (if any), how long have you known them, why did you select them, is this a same-sex couple, inter-faith, inter-racial, etc.

II. Body: Address the following issues at a minimum:

A. The history of the relationship – how did they meet, what was the initial attraction, what made them decide to commit to a long-term relationship, etc.?

B. How do they structure their family – traditional vs. non-traditional roles, occupational and child care concerns, etc.? Be sure to refer to your textbook for appropriate terms and definitions.

C. How do they communicate? Pay attention to their statements and body language, as well as your personal observations and experiences. How do they make family decisions?

D. What have been the most challenging times in their relationship? How have they worked through those issues?

III. Analysis:  Address the following items, at a minimum:

A. Do you consider this to be a successful relationship? Why or why not?

B. What “type” of marriage or relationship would you categorize this relationship to be? Explain your answer.

C. What qualities of this relationship would you like to have in your own relationship? How would you create these qualities in your relationship? What type of efforts would you be willing to make to retain those qualities in your relationship?

D. What qualities would you want to avoid? How would you avoid them? What preventative measure would you take in your relationships?

E. What have you learned about committed relationships from your interview with this couple? How will you apply this information to your personal life?

Answer 1

COUPLE INTERVIEW

Introduction

My topic for the couple interview is Marriage and Family life. I interviewed Mr & Mrs. Gupta. They both are from India and Mr. Gupta is a Hindu and Mrs. Gupta is a Christian. Both of them are 34 years old as they studied together in India. I’ve known them for the past four years as they are our neighbours. Both of them are working in an IT company as Software Engineers.

II. Synopsis of the interview.

They both studied in a college in India together and they fell in love during the second year of their study. They were not classmates but used to meet in the canteen and combined classes for a particular subject. They didn’t express their love for a long time and at the end of second year both of them came to know their love for each other through their friends.

Both of them belonged to different religions, so they raise their children in non-traditional way. They are all unique but still live together. They would like to raise their children free from religion because religion caused a lot of trouble during their marriage. They both live together married and take care of their children together with both of them sharing the responsibilities.

They communicate freely taking turns and they show lot of consideration and love towards each other. They feel happy whenever they talked about their past and they are satisfied with what they have today. They take family decisions together and in times of disagreement, they take some more time to think about other’s point of view.

When their first baby was born they both went through lots of hardship as they both were new to bringing up or taking care of an infant. Their attention got divided when the baby was born. They both felt that they are not able to spend enough time together but they worked it out and understood that all the parents go through this crisis and if they overcome it by planning things and time for each other. They also faced financial difficulties as Mrs. Gupta didn’t work for two years in order to look after the baby. Now, they say that they have settled everything.

III. Analysis

I definitely consider this as a successful relationship as they both were very understanding, caring for each other, show empathy in understanding other’s point of view, happy about sharing their responsibilities and been together for ten years now.

Their marriage is a love marriage and their relationship falls under monogamy. Monogamy is having a long term relationship with one partner. They are together for more than 14 years now, including their love years.

I think one of the most important quality is that they accept each other with all their limitations, they talk things through and solve issues now and then. I would like to look for the positives in my partner while accepting human beings have limitations and no one is perfect in this world.

I think they have sacrificed most of their happiness and intimate time for their children. I would like to spend time for myself and give time to my partner because each individual has their own preferences in life and they should be able to do it.

In my opinion if people keep changing partners with a mind-set that the next one will be Mr. Perfect or Mrs. Perfect, they are wrong. To err is human and human beings are not Gods. So, if one is not satisfied with one, the chances are more that they will keep finding fault with the next as their graving will be more physical and materialistic. In order for a relationship to last longer, one should try to understand one beyond the physical and material benefit they offer.