The concept of marriage has been greatly damaged compared to its original meaning, in which originally, according to our European-Christian culture, getting married and saying the oath definitely meant a lifelong commitment - said clinical psychologist Professor Emőke Bagdy in an interview given to Origo on the occasion of Marriage Week.

Emőke Bagdy believes that a very special change has taken place in recent years, because for ten years there has been a positive attempt to put families first, to take all kinds of measures related to families, so that, on the one hand, there are family formations, young people find each other in such a way that they will undertake a common life, undertake a common child, and on the other hand, that all desired children may be born. The clinical psychologist professor also talked about the effects of the coronavirus epidemic on families and the patterns of childhood that determine an individual's attitude towards relationships.

Among other things, Emőke Bagdy said:

IN THE PAST TEN YEARS, MANY GOVERNMENT MEASURES HELPED FAMILIES WHICH SUPPORTED THE FAMILY INSTITUTION, BUT I CONSIDER ATTITUDE FORMATION TO BE ESSENTIAL. HOWEVER, AT LEAST A DECADE WAS NECESSARY FOR THIS.

A point of view opened up, according to which it is very important to connect life in a relationship along the lines of commitment and responsibility in such a way that it is no longer "me" and "you", but "we" will be together, the two of us. With new goals, with the goal that our family, from the moment a child is born, we start a family and raise our children.

This approach strongly brought back those ethical aspects that were valid before, but were lost.

We can say that getting married has become fashionable. It is possible that the rite of marriage is superficial in many respects, but even then something comes back, which is accompanied by marriage preparation, the strengthening of thoughts in young people that support commitment and responsibility.

Norm formation is very important: if a young couple gets married in a church, for example, it serves as an example for others who will also want to request the sanctity of their marriage. This is how the number of both church and civil ceremonies has increased recently.

You can read the full interview conducted by Flóra Fónyi-Tisóczki here

Featured image source: Emőke Bagdy