Psychological Aspects of Elopement: A Case in Bosnia-Herzegovina

Abstract

Despite the fact that an elopement becomes declining marriage practice in Bosnia, there are still a significant number of women who marry this way and who are able to share their knowledge on this cultural heritage. It is not call into question that elopement has a great sociological significance for young women. After elopement the marriage gains an achieved status and the girl gets stable position in the society as married women. However, the question posed in this paper is what does elopement imply from psychological point of view? Could it be considered as a sign of integrated ego-identity or does it just reflect youthful defiance and spirit of exploration. In addressing these questions, we relied on Erikson’s work as a theoretical framework and discussed the relation of elopement and ego-identity within his psychosocial theory of development.