Elopement and its implications to a family system: a sociocultural perspective

ABSTRACT Elopement is described as an act that is against the religion, culture and social values of a society. Elopement can cause negative impacts to the individual, the family and society. This issue is commonly discussed from legal and religious perspectives, but not from sociocultural perspectives. This study employed an open-ended question on the perception of elopement among Malay couples. A social media platform, namely Facebook, was utilized as a platform for data collection. The data was analyzed using a thematic analysis. The themes that emerge from the analysis are ungratefulness and disobedience to the family, elopement as a beginning of a miserable life, legal complications, criminal behaviors, and blessings in marriage. This article provides a discussion of elopement from a social perspective and poses further research avenues for future studies. This study hopes to raise the topic of elopement as an important issue when dealing with cultural, religious and family institutions.