White Marriage from a Psychological Perspective (New Emotional Needs or Avoidance of Commitment in Intimate Relationships)

In recent decades, patterns of intimate relationships have undergone significant changes, with one of the most notable being the increasing prevalence of the phenomenon of "white marriage" or cohabitation without formal marriage. In this type of relationship, where couples enter into a shared life without legal or religious commitment, psychological concepts such as attachment, commitment, emotional security, and mental health are closely related. The aim of the present paper is to examine white marriage from a psychological perspective and analyze this phenomenon within the framework of two main approaches: "emotional need" and "avoidance of commitment." The research method is a review-analysis based on recent studies in both Persian and English from the last decade. The findings indicate that the inclination towards white marriage is the result of a complex interaction of individual, developmental, cultural, and economic factors, and although it may sometimes be seen as a response to emotional needs and the experience of intimacy, in many cases, it is associated with patterns of commitment avoidance and insecure attachment. The results of this study could be effective in the areas of couple counseling, social policy-making, and the prevention of psychological harm.

کلیدواژه ها:

white marriage ، cohabitation ، commitment ، attachment ، mental health ، intimate relationships