published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Master / Master of Social Sciences

This project examined dispositional optimism and its influence on the three subscales of marital adjustment (consensus, satisfaction, and cohesion) by gender. Data for this study came from Wave 2 and 3 of the National Survey of Families and Households. The Actor Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) was used to examine both actor and partner effects of dispositional optimism on the marital adjustment subscales using the program AMOS. Results indicate that wives’ optimism seem to influence their own later marital satisfaction as well as their husbands’ later marital satisfaction. However, husbands’ optimism appeared to influence neither their own nor their wives’ later satisfaction. These results imply that wives’ optimism matters for marital satisfaction, whereas husbands’ does not.

Thesis (M.S.)--Miami University, Dept. of Family Studies and Social Work, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 23-30).

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / A satisfação alcançada no casamento influencia fortemente a qualidade de vida. Por outro lado, conflitos conjugais estão relacionados a problemas de saúde, a violência e ao divórcio. Mesmo com as dificuldades inerentes a qualquer relacionamento conjugal, o matrimônio parece ser ainda um desejo a ser realizado por muitos. Porém, para que o relacionamento seja uma fonte de felicidade e resulte em uma relação satisfatória, os cônjuges precisam investir no desenvolvimento constante de habilidades para que assim possam lidar com as adversidades geradas pela vida a dois. Estudos apontam que a capacidade de ouvir e compreender, bem como de demonstrar sensibilidade frente às necessidades dos outros (empatia) constitui um dos fatores importantes para um casamento feliz, na medida em que, ao se sentir ouvido e compreendido, o cônjuge se sente mais seguro e valorizado. No entanto, ainda não está claro, se o cônjuge que manifesta empatia (empatia manifestada) experimenta tanta satisfação conjugal quanto aquele que a recebe (empatia recebida). Esse estudo investigou o valor preditivo da expressão de empatia sobre a satisfação no casamento. Foram utilizadas três medidas de auto-informe: Escala de Satisfação Conjugal (ESC-Dela Coleta, 1989), medição da satisfação conjugal; Inventário de Empatia (IE-Falcone & cols., 2008), que avalia a empatia geral; Questionário de Empatia Conjugal (QEC-Oliveira, Falcone & Ribas Jr, 2009) que avalia a empatia conjugal, sendo este último adaptado para tornar-se um questionário de auto-informe. Todos os questionários foram respondidos por 108 indivíduos casados ( 69 do sexo feminino e 39 do sexo masculino). Através da Análise de Regressão Múltipla, onde a medida de satisfação conjugal foi a variável dependente e os cinco fatores correspondentes às duas medidas de empatia foram as variáveis independentes. Verificou-se que a expressão da empatia conjugal foi preditiva da satisfação conjugal em suas três dimensões: 1) Interação conjugal (IC); 2) Aspectos emocionais (AEm) e 3) Aspectos estruturais (AEs). Dentre os fatores do IE, a Sensibilidade Afetiva (SA) foi preditiva, no sentido inverso (r= -0.23 e p<0.05), dos Aspectos Emocionais (AEm) da ESC. No que diz respeito ao IE e a relação de seus fatores com o QEC, a Tomada de Perspectiva (TP) e a Sensibilidade Afetiva (SA) apresentaram correlações moderadas e significativas (r=.38 e p<.001 e r=.35 e p<.001, respectivamente). Espera-se que esse estudo possa contribuir para a construção de programas visando desenvolver empatia em indivíduos casados, facilitando a comunicação e a satisfação no casamento. / The satisfaction reached with marriage strongly influences life quality. On the other side, marriage conflicts are related to health problems, violence and divorce. Even with the inherent difficulties of each relationship, marriage stills seems to be a desire to be reached by a lot of people. However, in order to the relationship to be a source of happiness, resulting in a satisfying relationship, couples need to invest in a constant development of skills to be able to deal with the adversities related with shared life. Some studies suggests that the capacity of listening and comprehend, as well as the capacity to demonstrate sensibility in face of partner necessity (empathy) constitute important factors for a happy marriage, as far as the spouse feels listened and comprehended, they feel more safe and valued. Nonetheless, It is not clear yet if the spouse that manifests empathy (manifested empathy) experiences as much marital satisfaction as the one that received empathy (received empathy). In this study we investigated the predictive value of the expression of empathy related to marital satisfaction. Three methods of auto-inform measurements were used to evaluate: scale of marital satisfaction (ESC) (Dela Coleta, 1989), to analyze marital satisfaction; inventory of empathy (IE) (Falcone & cols., 2008), to evaluate empathy in general; questionnaire of marital empathy (QEC) (Oliveira, Falcone & Ribas, 2009). This last one was adapted to become an auto-inform questionnaire. All three questionnaires were answered by 108 marriage people, between 39 men and 69 women. We used a multiple regression analysis, in which the measurement of marital satisfaction was the dependent variable and the five factors related to the two measurements of empathy were the independent variables. It was shown that the expression of marital empathy was predictive of marital satisfaction in its three dimensions: 1) marital interaction (MI); 2) emotional aspects (EA); 3) structural aspects (SA). Between the factors analyzed in the inventory of empathy (IE), affective sensibility (AS) was inversely predictive of the emotional aspects (EA) in the scale of marital satisfaction (r= -0.23 e p<0.05). Regarding the inventory of empathy (IE), and the relation between its factors on the questionnaire of marital empathy (QEC), the perspective uptake and the affective sensibility showed a very high correlation, statistically significant (r=.38 e p<.001 e r=.35 e p<.001, respectively). We expect this study can contribute to build up programs intended to develop empathy in marriage people in order to facilitate communication between spouses and improving marital satisfaction.

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro / Buscou-se, nesse estudo, quantificar e avaliar a homogamia, a heterogamia e as barreiras de cruzamento ao matrimônio via escolaridade (anos de estudo) e origem social (categorias ocupacionais dos pais). As tendências temporais desses padrões também foram examinadas. Analisou-se, ainda, a associação entre escolaridade dos maridos, escolaridade das esposas (status realizado), origem social dos maridos e origem social das esposas (status atribuído). Esse trabalho teve o intuito também de discutir o viés de seletividade marital segundo os diferenciais sociais (anos de estudo e origem social). Para isso, foram analisados parâmetros que mostram como se configuram os padrões de nupcialidade (idade média ao casar e celibato definitivo), bem como foram examinados os determinantes da união sob a perspectiva de três níveis de fatores condicionantes (nível das características individuais, nível do status atribuído e nível do status realizado). Verificou-se que as mulheres com alta escolaridade, no Brasil, permanecem num período maior na condição de solteiras (alta idade média ao casar e alto celibato definitivo). Os homens com alta escolaridade também apresentaram uma alta idade média ao casar, entretanto, o casamento demonstrou ser praticamente universal para esse segmento. Os resultados também mostraram que o aumento de um ano na idade dos indivíduos elevam a chance de união em aproximadamente 5%. Ter uma baixa escolaridade também aumenta a chance dos indivíduos se casarem. A variável origem social apresentou um comportamento dúbio ao ser incorporada no modelo com a variável anos de estudo. Constatou-se que há uma alta proporção de uniões homogâmicas por escolaridade. Para efetuar uma análise adequada das tendências temporais na seletividade marital foi proposto modelos log-lineares em que a dimensão do tempo foi incorporada. O ajustamento dos modelos indicou que a interpretação mais plausível para as tendências temporais na seletividade marital por escolaridade é a da estabilidade dos parâmetros indicativos das propensões homogâmicas. Em relação a análise da seletividade marital e origem social os resultados mostraram que a maior proporção de homogamia pôde ser verificada entre os casais que tinham como origem social a categoria de pequenos proprietários rurais. A conclusão mais plausível ao se analisar os modelos que consideraram as tendências temporais é que a variação temporal dos parâmetros indicativos da seletividade marital por origem social é a característica mais forte dos dados analisados. Ao analisar as chances relativas oriundas desse modelo observou-se que as barreiras de origem social de curta distância (entre segmentos de origem social próximos) são as mais fáceis de serem transpostas. Ao passo que as barreiras mais difíceis de serem ultrapassadas estão concentradas nos dois extremos. Verificou-se, ainda, que as associações entre as interações escolaridade do marido e escolaridade da esposa e origem social do marido e origem social da esposa não são independentes. Assim, pode-se presumir que a origem social (status atribuído) continua influenciando a escolha conjugal mesmo quando se leva em consideração o status realizado (escolaridade dos cônjuges) / This study attempted to quantify and evaluate homogamy, heterogamy and the crossing barriers to marriage regarding schooling (years of study) and social background (parental occupational category). Time tendencies present in these patterns were also considered as well as the association between husbands schooling, wives schooling (status held), husbands social origin and wives social origin (status assigned). This thesis also aimed to discuss the marital selectivity bias according to social differentials (years of study and social origin). For this, parameters that show how marriage patterns are configured (mean age to marry and permanent celibacy) were analyzed. It was also considered the marriage determinant factors under three conditions (individual characteristics, level of assigned status and level of status held). It was found that women with high educational level, in Brazil, remain unmarried for a longer period, since they usually get married on their late middle ages and show a high permanent celibacy). Men with high educational levels also showed a high mean age to marry, however, marriage proved to be virtually universal for this segment. The results also showed that the increase of one year in the age of individuals raises the chance of marriage in approximately 5%. Having a low educational level also increases the chance of people to get married. The social origin variable demonstrated a dubious behavior when incorporated into the model with the years of study variable. A high proportion of homogamic unions for schooling was found. To perform an adequate analysis of time tendencies in marital selectivity log-linear models were proposed and time dimension was incorporated. The models adjustment indicated that the most plausible interpretation for time tendencies in marital selectivity for schooling is the indicative parameters of stability regarding homogamic tendencies. Considering the analysis of marital and social origin selectivity results showed that the highest proportion of homogamy could be observed between couples who came from rural smallholders family. The most plausible conclusion when analyzing the time tendencies models is that the temporal variation of indicative parameters of marital selectivity by social origin is the strongest feature throughout the analyzed data. When analyzing the relative chances from this model it was observed that the short distance social origin barriers (between close social origin segments) are the easiest ones to be transposed. While the hardest barriers to overcome are concentrated in the two extremes. It was also found that the associations between the interactions husband and wife schooling and husband and wifes social origin and social background are not independent. In this way, it can be supposed that the social background (status assigned) continues influencing the choice of marriage even when it takes into account the status held (schooling of spouses)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / A satisfação alcançada no casamento influencia fortemente a qualidade de vida. Por outro lado, conflitos conjugais estão relacionados a problemas de saúde, a violência e ao divórcio. Mesmo com as dificuldades inerentes a qualquer relacionamento conjugal, o matrimônio parece ser ainda um desejo a ser realizado por muitos. Porém, para que o relacionamento seja uma fonte de felicidade e resulte em uma relação satisfatória, os cônjuges precisam investir no desenvolvimento constante de habilidades para que assim possam lidar com as adversidades geradas pela vida a dois. Estudos apontam que a capacidade de ouvir e compreender, bem como de demonstrar sensibilidade frente às necessidades dos outros (empatia) constitui um dos fatores importantes para um casamento feliz, na medida em que, ao se sentir ouvido e compreendido, o cônjuge se sente mais seguro e valorizado. No entanto, ainda não está claro, se o cônjuge que manifesta empatia (empatia manifestada) experimenta tanta satisfação conjugal quanto aquele que a recebe (empatia recebida). Esse estudo investigou o valor preditivo da expressão de empatia sobre a satisfação no casamento. Foram utilizadas três medidas de auto-informe: Escala de Satisfação Conjugal (ESC-Dela Coleta, 1989), medição da satisfação conjugal; Inventário de Empatia (IE-Falcone & cols., 2008), que avalia a empatia geral; Questionário de Empatia Conjugal (QEC-Oliveira, Falcone & Ribas Jr, 2009) que avalia a empatia conjugal, sendo este último adaptado para tornar-se um questionário de auto-informe. Todos os questionários foram respondidos por 108 indivíduos casados ( 69 do sexo feminino e 39 do sexo masculino). Através da Análise de Regressão Múltipla, onde a medida de satisfação conjugal foi a variável dependente e os cinco fatores correspondentes às duas medidas de empatia foram as variáveis independentes. Verificou-se que a expressão da empatia conjugal foi preditiva da satisfação conjugal em suas três dimensões: 1) Interação conjugal (IC); 2) Aspectos emocionais (AEm) e 3) Aspectos estruturais (AEs). Dentre os fatores do IE, a Sensibilidade Afetiva (SA) foi preditiva, no sentido inverso (r= -0.23 e p<0.05), dos Aspectos Emocionais (AEm) da ESC. No que diz respeito ao IE e a relação de seus fatores com o QEC, a Tomada de Perspectiva (TP) e a Sensibilidade Afetiva (SA) apresentaram correlações moderadas e significativas (r=.38 e p<.001 e r=.35 e p<.001, respectivamente). Espera-se que esse estudo possa contribuir para a construção de programas visando desenvolver empatia em indivíduos casados, facilitando a comunicação e a satisfação no casamento. / The satisfaction reached with marriage strongly influences life quality. On the other side, marriage conflicts are related to health problems, violence and divorce. Even with the inherent difficulties of each relationship, marriage stills seems to be a desire to be reached by a lot of people. However, in order to the relationship to be a source of happiness, resulting in a satisfying relationship, couples need to invest in a constant development of skills to be able to deal with the adversities related with shared life. Some studies suggests that the capacity of listening and comprehend, as well as the capacity to demonstrate sensibility in face of partner necessity (empathy) constitute important factors for a happy marriage, as far as the spouse feels listened and comprehended, they feel more safe and valued. Nonetheless, It is not clear yet if the spouse that manifests empathy (manifested empathy) experiences as much marital satisfaction as the one that received empathy (received empathy). In this study we investigated the predictive value of the expression of empathy related to marital satisfaction. Three methods of auto-inform measurements were used to evaluate: scale of marital satisfaction (ESC) (Dela Coleta, 1989), to analyze marital satisfaction; inventory of empathy (IE) (Falcone & cols., 2008), to evaluate empathy in general; questionnaire of marital empathy (QEC) (Oliveira, Falcone & Ribas, 2009). This last one was adapted to become an auto-inform questionnaire. All three questionnaires were answered by 108 marriage people, between 39 men and 69 women. We used a multiple regression analysis, in which the measurement of marital satisfaction was the dependent variable and the five factors related to the two measurements of empathy were the independent variables. It was shown that the expression of marital empathy was predictive of marital satisfaction in its three dimensions: 1) marital interaction (MI); 2) emotional aspects (EA); 3) structural aspects (SA). Between the factors analyzed in the inventory of empathy (IE), affective sensibility (AS) was inversely predictive of the emotional aspects (EA) in the scale of marital satisfaction (r= -0.23 e p<0.05). Regarding the inventory of empathy (IE), and the relation between its factors on the questionnaire of marital empathy (QEC), the perspective uptake and the affective sensibility showed a very high correlation, statistically significant (r=.38 e p<.001 e r=.35 e p<.001, respectively). We expect this study can contribute to build up programs intended to develop empathy in marriage people in order to facilitate communication between spouses and improving marital satisfaction.

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro / Buscou-se, nesse estudo, quantificar e avaliar a homogamia, a heterogamia e as barreiras de cruzamento ao matrimônio via escolaridade (anos de estudo) e origem social (categorias ocupacionais dos pais). As tendências temporais desses padrões também foram examinadas. Analisou-se, ainda, a associação entre escolaridade dos maridos, escolaridade das esposas (status realizado), origem social dos maridos e origem social das esposas (status atribuído). Esse trabalho teve o intuito também de discutir o viés de seletividade marital segundo os diferenciais sociais (anos de estudo e origem social). Para isso, foram analisados parâmetros que mostram como se configuram os padrões de nupcialidade (idade média ao casar e celibato definitivo), bem como foram examinados os determinantes da união sob a perspectiva de três níveis de fatores condicionantes (nível das características individuais, nível do status atribuído e nível do status realizado). Verificou-se que as mulheres com alta escolaridade, no Brasil, permanecem num período maior na condição de solteiras (alta idade média ao casar e alto celibato definitivo). Os homens com alta escolaridade também apresentaram uma alta idade média ao casar, entretanto, o casamento demonstrou ser praticamente universal para esse segmento. Os resultados também mostraram que o aumento de um ano na idade dos indivíduos elevam a chance de união em aproximadamente 5%. Ter uma baixa escolaridade também aumenta a chance dos indivíduos se casarem. A variável origem social apresentou um comportamento dúbio ao ser incorporada no modelo com a variável anos de estudo. Constatou-se que há uma alta proporção de uniões homogâmicas por escolaridade. Para efetuar uma análise adequada das tendências temporais na seletividade marital foi proposto modelos log-lineares em que a dimensão do tempo foi incorporada. O ajustamento dos modelos indicou que a interpretação mais plausível para as tendências temporais na seletividade marital por escolaridade é a da estabilidade dos parâmetros indicativos das propensões homogâmicas. Em relação a análise da seletividade marital e origem social os resultados mostraram que a maior proporção de homogamia pôde ser verificada entre os casais que tinham como origem social a categoria de pequenos proprietários rurais. A conclusão mais plausível ao se analisar os modelos que consideraram as tendências temporais é que a variação temporal dos parâmetros indicativos da seletividade marital por origem social é a característica mais forte dos dados analisados. Ao analisar as chances relativas oriundas desse modelo observou-se que as barreiras de origem social de curta distância (entre segmentos de origem social próximos) são as mais fáceis de serem transpostas. Ao passo que as barreiras mais difíceis de serem ultrapassadas estão concentradas nos dois extremos. Verificou-se, ainda, que as associações entre as interações escolaridade do marido e escolaridade da esposa e origem social do marido e origem social da esposa não são independentes. Assim, pode-se presumir que a origem social (status atribuído) continua influenciando a escolha conjugal mesmo quando se leva em consideração o status realizado (escolaridade dos cônjuges) / This study attempted to quantify and evaluate homogamy, heterogamy and the crossing barriers to marriage regarding schooling (years of study) and social background (parental occupational category). Time tendencies present in these patterns were also considered as well as the association between husbands schooling, wives schooling (status held), husbands social origin and wives social origin (status assigned). This thesis also aimed to discuss the marital selectivity bias according to social differentials (years of study and social origin). For this, parameters that show how marriage patterns are configured (mean age to marry and permanent celibacy) were analyzed. It was also considered the marriage determinant factors under three conditions (individual characteristics, level of assigned status and level of status held). It was found that women with high educational level, in Brazil, remain unmarried for a longer period, since they usually get married on their late middle ages and show a high permanent celibacy). Men with high educational levels also showed a high mean age to marry, however, marriage proved to be virtually universal for this segment. The results also showed that the increase of one year in the age of individuals raises the chance of marriage in approximately 5%. Having a low educational level also increases the chance of people to get married. The social origin variable demonstrated a dubious behavior when incorporated into the model with the years of study variable. A high proportion of homogamic unions for schooling was found. To perform an adequate analysis of time tendencies in marital selectivity log-linear models were proposed and time dimension was incorporated. The models adjustment indicated that the most plausible interpretation for time tendencies in marital selectivity for schooling is the indicative parameters of stability regarding homogamic tendencies. Considering the analysis of marital and social origin selectivity results showed that the highest proportion of homogamy could be observed between couples who came from rural smallholders family. The most plausible conclusion when analyzing the time tendencies models is that the temporal variation of indicative parameters of marital selectivity by social origin is the strongest feature throughout the analyzed data. When analyzing the relative chances from this model it was observed that the short distance social origin barriers (between close social origin segments) are the easiest ones to be transposed. While the hardest barriers to overcome are concentrated in the two extremes. It was also found that the associations between the interactions husband and wife schooling and husband and wifes social origin and social background are not independent. In this way, it can be supposed that the social background (status assigned) continues influencing the choice of marriage even when it takes into account the status held (schooling of spouses)

A qualidade dos relacionamentos interpessoais tem grande influência nos diversos contextos da vida de qualquer indivíduo, aqui se incluindo o contexto conjugal, fonte potencial de prazer e realização ou frustração e transtornos psicológicos. Pesquisas têm mostrado a importância de habilidades sociais específicas para a maximização da qualidade do relacionamento conjugal, como sua estabilidade e duração, sugerindo seu impacto possível também sobre a satisfação conjugal, embora não se disponha, ainda, de estudos empíricos suficientes para sustentar esta última relação. Essa lacuna está, em parte, relacionada à falta de instrumentos para a avaliação das habilidades sociais conjugais e sua possível especificidade em relação às habilidades gerais dos cônjuges. Este estudo propôs-se verificar a relação entre a satisfação conjugal dos cônjuges e habilidades sociais gerais e conjugais e, concomitantemente, aperfeiçoar um instrumento de avaliação destas últimas. Participaram 406 respondentes de ambos os sexos (a maioria casais), com nível mínimo de escolaridade de segundo grau e idades entre 20 e 73 anos , que responderam ao Inventário de Habilidades Sociais (IHS-Del-Prette), Inventário de Habilidades Sociais Conjugais (IHSC) e à Escala de Satisfação Conjugal (ESC). Foram obtidos escores individuais para cada instrumento, procedendo-se a análises descritivas de cada um e a comparações entre eles, especialmente entre maridos e esposas, além de análise da influência de variáveis sócio-demográficas. Os resultados apontaram correlação significativa entre escores do IHS-Del-Prette, IHSC e escore da ESC, sugerindo que quanto mais elaborado o repertório de habilidades sociais (conjugais e gerais) do respondente, maior é sua satisfação com o casamento, confirmando a hipótese inicial do estudo. Correlações entre fatores do IHSC, IHS-Del-Prette e da ESC apontaram classes de comportamentos do respondente e de seu cônjuge especificamente associadas à satisfação conjugal. O IHSC apresentou boa consistência interna (Alfa de Cronbach = 0,81) e uma estrutura de seis fatores que explicaram 45,407 da variância total obtida. São discutidas a aplicabilidade do instrumento a novos estudos e ao contexto prático de atuação do psicólogo, bem como as implicações dos resultados obtidos para novas pesquisas. / The quality of interpersonal relations has a great influence on many life contexts, including here the marital context, a potential source of pleasure and accomplishment or of frustration and psychological disorders. Researches have shown the importance of specific social skills for the maximization of the marital relation quality as well as upon its stability and duration, suggesting a possible impact also upon the marital satisfaction. Nevertheless, these relations don\'t have enough supportive empirical studies. This gap is partially related to the lack of instruments to access the social marital skills and to its possible specificity in relation to the spouses\' global skills. This study was aimed to verify the relation between the spouses\' marital satisfaction and global and marital social skills and simultaneously to improve an instrument to evaluate social skills. 406 participants from both sexes (most couples, with high school educational level, age between 20 and 73 years) completed the Social Skills Inventory (SSI-Del-Prette), the Marital Social Skills Inventory (MSSI) and the Marital Satisfaction Scale (MSS). It was computed individual scores for each instrument, then proceeding to descriptive and statistical analyses, especially comparing husbands and wives and social-demographic variables influence. The results showed a significant correlation between the SSI-Del-Prette, MSSI and MSS scores, suggesting that the more elaborated was the respondent\'s social skills repertoire (marital and global), greater was his/her marital satisfaction, confirming the initial hypothesis. Correlations between the SSI, MSSI and MSS factorial scores showed which respondents social skills classes was specifically associated to the marital satisfaction. The MSSI presented a good internal consistency (Alpha of Cronbach = 0,81) and a six factors structure that explained 45,407 of the obtained total variance. It has been discussed the instrument applicability to new studies and to practical context of psychologist professional work as well as these results\' implications to further researches.

This study aims to explore the experiences and coping mechanisms of black middle class women who remain in abusive marital relationships. The study also aimed to explore the reasons black women attach towards remaining in marital abusive relationships. Even though our current democratic Government has put efforts towards fighting against domestic abuse, South Africa is still characterised by high rates of domestic abuse. In South Africa a woman has about one in three chances of being violated in her life time, which puts it amongst the highest statistics of violence in the world, with one in six women standing a chance of being abused by her intimate partner in her lifetime (People Opposing Women Abuse, 2005). Domestic abuse does not just involve minor forms of physical assault, but, frequently, serious injury and even death. According to statistics from the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation at Wits University, one woman is murdered by her partner every six days in the Gauteng province in South Africa. Qualitative approach, as well as literature review and in-depth interviews have been used in order to study the experiences of abused women in the Mpumalanga province at KwaMhlanga. The theoretical approach used was (i) Social Learning Theories which focused on the mechanisms whereby family members influences each other through modelling, reinforcement and coercion to behave violently, (ii) The feminist theory in which the origins of abuse included stereotyping and patriarchal values, (iii) the General Systems Theory which demonstrates that abuse cannot be explained by focusing on an individual level, but rather that systems interact and as they interact, they influence the reaction of others. General System’s theory was used as the backdrop of the study because it provided a broader understanding of how abuse occurs within a family system and hence allowed the researcher to explore the experiences and coping mechanisms of women who remain in abusive marital relationships. Snowball sampling was used to recruit participants. The criteria included that the participants were currently in abusive marital relationships and had at least a tertiary qualification and were employed in middle management job position. Nine participants were interviewed using individual in depth interviews. The interviews were audio recorded and field notes were taken. Data was analysed qualitatively. Five broad categories formed a framework for the analysis. (i) The Experiences of abused women, (ii) the Impact of remaining in an abusive relationship, (iii) the Meaning attached to staying, (iv) the Coping mechanisms used by abused women, (v) and Social support. The themes were coded in form of numbers, counting the number of times the theme occurs in an interview, data was collected until a level of saturation was reached. The themes were then compared and integrated with the literature. The study concludes that abuse occurs in all social groups and that a complexity of factors contribute towards black middle class women resorting to remaining in marital abusive relationships, for example, culture and societal beliefs and structures, personality factors, and lack of support. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Psychology / unrestricted

The purpose of this quantitative and qualitative study was to determine retrospectively marital satisfaction and stability following the near-death experience (NDE) of one of the marital partners, focusing on the role of Gottman's Sound Marital House (1999) in the couple's relationship before and after the NDE. The researcher used the Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Test (1959), the Weiss-Ceretto Marital Status Inventory (1980), and a modification of Gottman's Shared Meanings Questionnaire (1999). The first group of participants included 26 NDErs. To create as comparable a group as possible, the researcher designed a life-changing event (LCE) group of 26 people who used as their referent the non-NDE-related experience they considered their most life-changing one during their marriage. Sixty-five percent of the marriages in which the NDErs were involved at the time of their NDEs ended in divorce. This number is in contrast to the 19 percent of LCE participants whose marriages ended in divorce. Marital adjustment, marital stability, and meanings in marriage between retrospectively based pre-event and post-event composite scores were statistically significantly different between the NDErs and LCErs. Low effect sizes were identified for each of the instruments except the Weiss-Ceretto Marital Status Inventory, which had a moderate effect size. Strong correlations among the scores were identified. Further analysis of the results indicated strongly that the NDErs were less satisfied in their marriages, their marriages were less stable, and they did not have a strong level of shared meaning in the marriage after the NDE occurred as compared to the LCE participants. This study has serious implications for counselors who may work with NDErs. Findings from this study show that NDErs who were married at the time of their experiences have a strong possibility of experiencing marital problems. Encouraging these couples to seek professional help as soon as possible can provide a forum for them to address the potential numerous changes in their relationship. By having more information about the effects of an NDE on a marriage, counselors will be better prepared to assist those couples who are not well prepared to navigate their way through the aftereffects of the event. Through psychoeducation and the application of counseling approaches, counselors can help their clients address specific issues related to their NDEs.