Cohabitation in the context of changing family practices: Lessons for social work intervention by NATHANIEL PHUTI KGADIMA Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of D.PHIL (SOCIAL WORK) at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA SUPERVISOR: PROF M D M MAKOFANE FEBRURARY 2017 DEDICATION This study is dedicated to my paternal uncle, the late Manoko Azariel Kgadima. He was the first person to plant a seed of education in our family. A dedicated school principal on and off the field. Death thou not be proud. May your soul rest in peace. i DECLARATION I declare that the study: Cohabitation in the context of changing family practices: lessons for social work intervention, is my own work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. 13/07/2017 _________ Signature Date ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am indebted to the following distinguished individuals: I wish to thank Prof MDM Makofane for her support, wisdom, and encouragement. You are an astute promoter who would never accept anything less than perfection. You warned me that it was never going to be a smooth ride. The turbulences made it worth the title that comes with it. Thank you for being an excellent pilot. I give my warmest thanks to a colleague and good friend, Ms Keatlegile Mabelane. Thank you, Kea, for being a pillar of support when I needed one. You were there throughout my journey. My sincere appreciation is due to the men and women who shared their personal stories with me. Without you, this project would have remained an unfulfilled dream. Mokone o a le leboga. Le se ke la lahla hle (I am thankful even for the future). Without the support and encouragement of my family, I am certain that none of this would have come to fruition. Ke a leboga bakone ba ntshidikgolo. Dihlanhlagane! Ke le rata kaofela bana ba Morwadi (clan name, and praise). Special thanks to my line manager “boss”, Dr MP Sesoko. Without your support and understanding it would have been difficult to complete this study. You had a vision and plan. To all my colleagues in the Department of Social Work at Unisa, thank you for your words of encouragement. My former boss at the Department of Social Work (Kalafong Hospital), Ms. REM Kekana, who has always been interested in my progress. Ke a leboga mohlaloga. O ntebogele le ka matebeleng (clan name and praise). Thank you to Dr. Marichen van der Westhuizen for assisting me with the independent coding, and to the editor Ms Bell for editing the final research report. Many thanks to the radio presenters and their producers; Mr John Robbie, formerly at Radio 702, Mr Jeremy Thorpe and Yacoub Tladi at Tshwane FM, Ms Seipei Shole at SABC, and Ms Ntuthuko Dlomo of Mams FM. The few minutes that you afforded me iii on your shows to recruit participants made a huge difference. Your generosity and humility did not go unnoticed. Thank you to the radio personality, Ms Redi Tlhabi, for all the re-tweets when I was recruiting participants. To my friends, I am not able to mention all your names here. We are a big team. Ke a leboga bagwera. Le bagwera ba nnete (you are true friends indeed). I wish to thank everyone whose names I may not have mentioned here, who were part of this wonderful journey. Last, but most important, to the Creator of heaven and earth, You knew me before I was formed in my mother’s womb (Jeremiah, 1:5) and You had plans for me (Jeremiah 29:11). I believe this is one of Your plans for me. Lord, I thank You. Amen. iv ABSTRACT Cohabitation is a complex phenomenon with a multifaceted trajectory. It carries different meanings for couples. It is not a permanent state but a transition, which is characterised by uncertainty pertaining to its future. Its future lies with men who still have the prerogative to decide its progression. Women can only live in hope. A qualitative, phenomenological, explorative, descriptive, and contextual study was undertaken with 21 participants whose ages ranged from 25 to 35 years. The goals of this study were threefold: (i) to develop an in-depth understanding of the place of cohabitation in the context of changing family patterns and lessons for social work intervention; (ii) to gain insight into the participants’ experiences in cohabiting relationships in relation to the benefits, challenges, and mechanisms to address any challenges; and (iii) to proffer lessons for social work intervention based on the participants’ perspectives. Data was gathered through semi-structured interviews and analysed following Tesch’s (in Creswell, 2009) framework. Lincoln and Guba’s model was utilised for data verification. The major findings of this study indicate that the majority of dating couples slide into cohabitation without a clear agreement on the progression of the transition or relationship. The meaning of cohabitation is gendered as most women regard it as a transition to marriage, hoping that one day their partners will propose marriage. Conversely, men simply enjoy the presence of a woman in the house. Surprisingly, none of the participants consulted social workers when they were experiencing challenges in their relationships. Key terms Cohabitation, cohabitees, family, marriage, social work, social work intervention, social work practice v Table of Contents CHAPTER 1 .......................................................................................................................... 1 GENERAL ORIENTATION TO THE STUDY ......................................................................... 1 1.1 General introduction, statement of the problem, and the motivation of the study ............ 1 1.1.1 General introduction .................................................................................................... 1 1.1.2 Statement of the problem .......................................................................................... 10 1.1.3 Motivation for the study ............................................................................................. 12 1.2 Research question ....................................................................................................... 14 1.3 Goal and objectives ...................................................................................................... 16 1.4 Research approach ...................................................................................................... 17 1.5 The place and role of theory in a qualitative study ........................................................ 17 1.6 Ethical considerations .................................................................................................. 19 1.6.1 Informed consent ...................................................................................................... 21 1.6.2 Confidentiality and anonymity .................................................................................... 22 1.6.3 Protecting participants from harm .............................................................................. 22 1.6.4 Management of information ....................................................................................... 23 1.7 Clarification of key concepts ......................................................................................... 24 1.7.1 Cohabitation .............................................................................................................. 24 1.7.2 Cohabitees ................................................................................................................ 25 1.7.3 Family ....................................................................................................................... 25 1.7.4 Marriage .................................................................................................................... 26 1.7.5 Social work practice .................................................................................................. 26 1.7.6 Social work intervention ............................................................................................ 27 1.7.7 Social worker ............................................................................................................ 27 1.8 Structure of the research report .................................................................................... 28 1.9 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 29 CHAPTER 2 ........................................................................................................................ 31 THEORETICAL INTERPRETATIONS OF COHABITATION ............................................... 31 2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 31 2.2 Commitment theory ...................................................................................................... 32 2.3 Identity theory .............................................................................................................. 33 2.4 Social learning theory ................................................................................................... 36 2.5 Self-determination theory ............................................................................................. 37 2.6 Family systems theory.................................................................................................. 39 2.7 Life course theory ........................................................................................................