The Impact of Social Benefits on Marital Behavior in the Republic of North Ossetia Alania

Gabaraeva Marina Ruslanovna ORCID: 0000-0001-8115-0518 Junior Scientific Associate, Laboratory of Applied Sociology and Conflict Resolution Studies, Vladikavkaz Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences 362027, Russia, respublika Severnaya osetiya-Alaniya, g. Vladikavkaz, ul. Markusa, 22, of. 3 mariina95@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

The family is one of the main institutions of society. Marital behavior can serve as an indicator of various changes in society – social, economic, cultural. Marital behavior is "behavior aimed at satisfying the need for marriage, behavior related to the choice of a marriage partner (i.e., with marital selection)" ^{[1, p. 150]}. Marriage selection is the process of choosing a marriage partner from a set of possible ones. The process of marriage selection depends on the socio-cultural, economic, social conditions that exist in a particular society.

A change in marital behavior occurs because people react to events, shocks, crises by changing their marital behavior: getting married, having children ^{[2, p. 197]}. In Russia, marriage and divorce rates began to change at the end of the twentieth century, which was explained by demographic echoes of the Great Patriotic War, and in the 1990s by socio-economic shocks ^[3]. After the improvement of marriage rates at the beginning of the XXI century, marriage rates began to decrease again throughout the country, while the number of divorces is increasing. The study of marital behavior and the reasons for its change will help to understand the problems of the modern Russian family and the prospects for the development of the institution of marriage.

The problems of the institution of marriage and the problem of divorce were explained by external social factors. The authors noted at the beginning of the XX century that patriarchal marriage has lost its religious significance and its social institution is in a state of destruction ^[4]. Later, the growth of divorces was explained by economic transformations in society, creating instability ^[5]. In the 90s, much attention was paid in Russian science to demographic processes, as well as the impact of economic reforms on the standard of living of the population. Marriage has ceased to be lifelong, and divorces, single-parent families and single mothers have become the norm of marital behavior ^[6].

A number of works aimed at identifying demographic and economic prerequisites for divorce, allows us to identify such factors: marriage in adolescence, poverty, unemployment, low level of education, having children from previous relationships, upbringing in a single-parent family ^{[7, 8, 9, 10]}. The study of marital behavior is often approached from the point of view of the importance of marriage for the reproduction of the population, since marriage is considered the dominant structure for the comfortable birth and upbringing of children ^[11]. Among the socio-economic factors affecting the decline in the birth rate in Russia, they note a low standard of living, lack of sufficient support from the state, the level of female employment, low financial well-being of the population ^[12].

The North Caucasus often appears to be a stronghold of the traditional family, leading among the regions in terms of fertility, showing a low divorce rate. However, in recent years, the regions of the North Caucasus have increasingly joined the general trend of the development of the institution of marriage in Russia ^{[13, p. 53]}, in this regard, the study of the demographic behavior of the population of the region is of particular interest. Marital behavior can indicate profound cultural changes in society, reflects the moods and problems of the young part of the population (since the main time of marriage and family creation is 20-35 years).

This study will consider one of the regions of the North Caucasus Federal District - North Ossetia. In 2022, the North Ossetian media talked about catastrophic divorce statistics ^[14]. Indeed, the statistical indicators of the republic are among the worst in the region. In 2020-2021, a decrease in the birth rate was recorded in North Ossetia, and the marriage and divorce rates showed equal values. Public figures spoke about the degradation of the nation and the destruction of traditional values, about the need to change the education system in the republic ^[15]. However, a more detailed examination of statistical data, as well as the study of public opinion in social networks, shows other reasons for such demographic changes. The purpose of the study is to determine the reasons for the increase in divorces and the decrease in the number of marriages.

The years of the COVID-19 pandemic have affected many aspects of society's life, including the family. The Government of the Russian Federation, starting in the spring of 2020, introduced support measures – benefits for different categories of families with children. These measures were supposed to help the financial stability of families during the pandemic, when many were forced to go to remote work, or lost their jobs altogether. However, statistical data, as well as content analysis of social networks, suggests that for the regions of the North Caucasus, in particular for North Ossetia, these support measures have led to an increase in the number of divorces.

The main statistical indicators of the state of the institution of marriage are the marriage coefficient and the divorce coefficient (Figure 1.). The marriage coefficient in North Ossetia has been declining since 2011. The divorce coefficient has remained at almost the same level, but in 2021 there is a sharp jump and the divorce coefficient becomes equal to the marriage coefficient.

Figure 1. Marriage and divorce rates of the Republic of North Ossetia ^[16].

Payments for families with children have been introduced since March 2020. Initially, any citizen of Russia who submitted an application was entitled to payments, confirmation of the status of the poor and past income was not required ^[17]. However, since April 1, 2021, when assigning payments to children, the zero income rule has been applied, according to which only those families who have at least some kind of income for the billing period (last year) have the right to payments. If there is no income and there is no good reason for zero income, then the family loses the right to payments ^[18]. In April 2021, payments were introduced for single-parent families with children from 8 to 16 years old ^[19].

In this case, the number of divorces by month is indicative (Figure 2). The maximum decrease in the number of divorces was in May, when the registry offices, due to restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, worked only by appointment. In April-May, many postponed the divorce until the registry offices start working in the usual format, which explains the surge in the divorce rate in the summer months of 2020.

Fig. 2. The number of divorces by month in North Ossetia in 2020-2021 years ^[20].

In 2021, in April, the first sharp rise in the number of divorces, repeated again in July. With APR for social benefits was introduced by the rule of zero income. In a situation when one spouse works informally and has no proof of income or the reasons for his absence (the official status of unemployed, disability, military service, etc.), it is easier to get a divorce and be able to generate additional income. To obtain the social benefits it is necessary that the average per capita income of all family members does not exceed one subsistence wage per capita in the region ^[21]. In order to meet this criterion, issued the divorce, and the income of one of the family members are excluded from the calculations of per capita income.

For a better understanding of the causes of such changes in mating behavior was conducted a content analysis of publications and reviews of the social network Instagram (owned by Meta technologies Inc., recognized as an extremist organization in Russia) for the first half of 2021, the social network was chosen because it is the most popular and most commented-on in the North segment of the Internet. Was used to analyze the posts and comments from a news communities in North Ossetia, on the statistics of divorces, illegitimate children, and other demographic indicators, which told local media. The total number of posts during the first half of 2022 – 5 total number of comments – 643.

Content analysis research method used for the objective, systematic and quantitative description of text data ^{[22, p. 36]}. Since automated methods of content analysis is far from understanding of the text and are unable to analyze sentiment, finding themes, and consider the text as a "bag of words" ^{[23, p. 89]}, in the framework of the study was qualitative content analysis. A content analysis was conducted in the software QDA Miner.

When discussing the increasing number of divorces social media users mostly talking about the financial problems of the population (figure 3). High unemployment and low wages make it impossible to create a stable strong family, financial problems lead to constant quarrels and eventually to divorce. Similar comments can be reduced to two options: "no work, no money; he who works, receives little, and prices are rising," and "increase salaries, and all will be well." Creating a family, many are not able to provide for themselves and children. The researchers also believe that modern men and women have more demands and expectations from marriage and relationships and are not afraid to end the marriage, if the joint life does not meet their needs and expectations ^[24].

The other part of the review explicitly says that many families arrange a fictitious divorce for the sake of obtaining benefits. As mentioned above, divorce allows you to exclude one of the family members from the calculation of average income per family member, and also allows you to avoid denial of benefits due to the lack of official income that is used by families where one parent works not officially. The fact that such practices lack of pay level for a comfortable family life with kids in North Ossetia. By mid-2022 about such fictitious divorce began to speak and employees of the registry office. According to the head of the registry office of the capital of the Republic of couples getting a divorce is not because of the collapse of the family, and in order to increase benefits for children ^[25].

The smallest part of the review considers the cause of divorce destruction of the traditional family, excessive modernization of society. Such comments have noted the reluctance of young people to make efforts to create a strong family, a romantic relationship outside of marriage.

Fig. 3. The reasons for the growing number of divorces in the opinion of the users of social networks (the number of reviews with different opinions).

Media publications have focused attention on the growing number of illegitimate children – this was part of the statistical data provided by the national registry office. As can be seen from figure 1, in 2020-2021. there was not only an increase in the divorce rate, but the decrease in the number of marriages. Accordingly, children born out of wedlock has become more. Reviews for such publications can be divided into three main groups: marriage without registration in the registry office; marriage doesn't matter, the fact of having children is beautiful in itself; the family initially did not enter into marriage knowing that so it will be easier to qualify for benefits (figure 4).

Reviews of the first group noted that North Ossetia proof of marriage is required – just get married and be a family in the eyes of relatives and friends. The second group of comments urging people not to condemn the birth of illegitimate children, in their opinion, it doesn't matter. The third group of review, as in the case of review of divorces, says the conscious is not the official conclusion of Braga in the registry offices, which allows you to qualify for a number of different benefits for low-income families.

Fig. 4. The reasons for the growing number of non-marital families, according to social media users (the number of reviews with different opinions).

Statistics of children born to women who were not married (Figure 5) shows a gradual decline from 2000 to 2015, after which growth begins. It can be assumed that this is due to a gradual improvement in the financial condition of the population, as can be seen from the structure of consumer spending (Table 1). The higher the spending on food, the lower the welfare of the population. As can be seen from Table 1, food costs have been declining since 2002. They reach the minimum level in 2013, after which growth begins. In 2020, food spending will reach the level of 2004.

In 2020, the share of illegitimate children out of the total number of births was 27.3%, while in 2019 it was 24.8%. It is worth noting that the percentage of illegitimate children among the rural population throughout the period is higher than among the urban population and higher than the general indicator for the republic. Most likely, the creation of a family without contacting the registry office and registration of an official marriage is more common among the rural population, as is the practice of divorce and not entering into an official marriage for the sake of receiving benefits.

Fig. 5. The share of illegitimate children in the total number of births in North Ossetia (as a percentage) ^[26].

These expenditures on food correlate with the marriage rate, which reaches its maximum value for the region (7.6) in 2011, after which the number of marriages is reduced. Also in 2015, inflation in the consumer market shows high values, after which it decreases, rising only in 2020, which is primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The inflation rate, as well as the data on food costs, suggests a decrease in the standard of living of the population by 2015, followed by an increase and a new decline after 2020. The welfare of the population is declining, as is the ability to fully provide for a family with several children, which leads to the dissolution and non-conclusion of marriages and an increase in the number of illegitimate children.

Table 1. Food expenditures in the structure of household consumer spending by consumption goals ^[27].

The desire to increase family income with the help of various benefits is caused, first of all, by the low level of wages in the region. As can be seen from Table 2, the average per capita monetary income of the population of the Republic of North Ossetia in 2020 amounted to 23,927 rubles, which is slightly lower than in 2019. Even if both parents have such an income, providing for a family with children seems difficult in conditions of constant price increases. Real incomes of the population decrease due to inflation (Table 3).

Table 2. Average per capita monetary income of the population (per month; rubles) ^[28].

Table 3. Inflation in the consumer market as a percentage ^[29].

The structure of monetary incomes of the population (Table 6) shows an increase in the percentage of social payments from the total income of the population in 2020 – from 23.1% in 2019 to 28.8% in 2020. The population of the republic is increasingly forced to rely on social assistance from the state, not wages.

Table 4. Structure of monetary income (as a percentage of total volume) ^[30]

Thus, we can say that the reasons for the growth of divorces in the Republic of North Ossetia are the financial problems of the population. The stability of marriages directly depends on the financial well-being of the family and the ability to provide all the necessary children. The higher the income of the population, the fewer divorces and the less need for state assistance in the form of benefits. Economic difficulties increase disagreements in families, reduce the expression of emotional support ^[31]. Families with sufficient income will not be forced to resort to fictitious divorces in order to receive social assistance.

At the moment, social assistance to families is focused on various benefits for families with low income and the status of the poor. Residents of North Ossetia, as well as other regions of the North Caucasus Federal District, have a request for another option to improve their well–being - an increase in wages and the creation of new jobs.

The marital behavior of the population is directly related to the socio-economic situation in the country and the region and reacts fairly quickly to any changes. Initiatives to help low-income families have led to an increase in the number of broken marriages, even if we are talking about fictitious divorces. High unemployment, lack of new jobs in sufficient quantity and low wages in the republic cause financial instability of the family. This leads both to the complete dissolution of marriage and to forced frauds with the social benefits system. Demographic statistics in the North Caucasus cannot be assessed without taking into account such fictitious divorces. However, despite their fictitiousness, they can eventually lead to the complete disintegration of the family.

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