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Women in second marriages: A study of women's approaches to conflict in first and second marriages
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine how women in second marriages resolve conflict in their marriages by comparing conflict resolution in their first marriage to conflict resolution in their second marriage. In depth interviews of a qualitative nature were conducted with a sample of twenty-six (26) women (six of these women were screened out for the pilot study). The study was conducted with twenty (20) women who were currently in a second marriage or had been in a second marriage previous to the interview (22 women were currently in a second marriage.) The study indicated that the majority of women in a second marriage see themselves as having improved in their ability to solve problems and deal with the conflict in their marriage. The study also found that women who had participated in some form of counseling (usually between marriages) were more self-sufficient--and able to acknowledge conflict without blaming their partners. These women stated that they gained a strong sense of autonomy and are now more capable of recognizing conflict without being intimidated by it. They also felt that they were no longer emotionally dependent on their partners as they may have been in their first marriage and as a result feel more secure in their second marriages. Many of the respondents felt that they were merely reacting to problems in their first marriage as compared to actively solving problems in their second. The reason for this change, they stated, was due to being more mature and experienced in their second marriage. Many attributed this change to counseling. Several hypotheses were developed, and these need to be tested in further quantitative research dealing with larger populations.
Subject Area
Womens studies|Families & family life|Personal relationships|Sociology|Social psychology
Recommended Citation
Willett, Salima Khan McEwen, "Women in second marriages: A study of women's approaches to conflict in first and second marriages" (1992). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9233419.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9233419