Analyzing the Challenges and Components of Remarriage Instability in Couple Therapy Applicants: Grounded Theory Research

Bahrami Nejad, Habibeh; Shariatmadar, Asieh; Farahbakhsh, Kiomars; Asgari, Mohammad

doi:10.48308/apsy.2024.236413.1683

Analyzing the Challenges and Components of Remarriage Instability in Couple Therapy Applicants: Grounded Theory Research

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Ph.D. student, Department of Counseling, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran

² Associate Professor of Counseling Department, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran.

³ Associate Professor, Department of evaluating and measuring, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran

10.48308/apsy.2024.236413.1683

Abstract

Aim: Remarriage is more vulnerable to divorce than first marriage. The present study aimed to answer the question: What are the components of unstable remarriage?

Method: This qualitative research was based on the systematic grounded theory of Strauss and Corbin (2011). The study population included all couples who had experienced remarriage and lived in Kerman city. Using both purposive and theoretical sampling, 12 individuals willing to cooperate with the researcher were selected. These individuals were interviewed using a semi-structured format. Data analysis was conducted using the methods of Strauss and Corbin (1990) and MAXQDA software.

Results: After coding, a total of 87 semantic codes, 24 secondary themes, and 12 main themes were extracted. Causal conditions included not resolving issues from the previous marriage, lack of planning for remarriage, expedient marriages, and the creation of an outsider/insider position. Strategies involved inappropriate coping mechanisms during times of stress and marital disputes. Intervening conditions included a lack of understanding of the challenges related to the life cycle, inflexibility in facing marital challenges, inability to manage time as a couple, difficulty in sharing intimacy and expressing feelings, and financial problems. Background conditions involved the disruption of marital security due to lack of approval from the original family. Consequences included decreased investment in the relationship and loss of self.

Conclusion: The findings indicate that remarriage requires proper planning, preparation, and effective coping strategies. Neglecting these factors can lead to unfortunate consequences for the marriage.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Marital

References

Agee, L. S. (2009). Individual endorsement of remarriage beliefs, consistency of cognitions between spouses, and outcomes in remarriage. Utah State University.[link]

Ahmadi, Kh. (2004). A comparative study of remarriage and its effects on the mental health of martyrs' wives and the deceased's wives. Two Quarterly Journals of Daneshvar Behavat, 2, 2, 35-45. [link]

Auslander, B. A., & Rosenthal, S. L. (2010). Intimate romantic relationships in young adulthood: A biodevelopmental perspective. Young adult mental health, 158-168.[link]

Balachandran, L., & Jean Yeung, W. J. (2020). Old bonds, new ties: Contextualizing family transitions in re-partnerships, remarriage and stepfamilies in Asia. Journal of Family Issues, 41(7), 879-890[link]

Bean, R. C., Ledermann, T., Higginbotham, B. J., & Galliher, R. V. (2021). Adjustment difficulties and marital stability in remarriages: The role of stepfamily constellation. Marriage & Family Review, 57(8), 721-740.[link]

Bean, R. C., Ledermann, T., Higginbotham, B. J., & Galliher, R. V. (2020). Associations between relationship maintenance behaviors and marital stability in remarriages. Journal of divorce & remarriage, 61(1), 62-82.[link]

Bray, J. H., & Easling, I. (2005). Remarriage and stepfamilies. Family psychology: The art of the science, 267-294. [link]

Bumpass, L., & Raley, K. (2007). Measuring Separation and DivorceBumpass.[link]

Cohen, P. N. (2019). The coming divorce decline. Socius, 5, 2378023119873497.[link]

Crapo, J. S., Turner, J. J., Bradford, K., & Higginbotham, B. J. (2022). The Impacts of Postdivorce Cohabitation and Relationship Duration on the Early Marital Climate of Remarriages. The Family Journal, 30(3), 307-315.[link]

Emami, G., Sadeghi, M., & Panaghi, L. (2022). Individuals Lived Experience in Remarriage, After Divorce. Iranian Journal of Family Psychology, 9(1), 90-103. [link]

Falke, S., & Larson, J. (2007). Premarital predictors of remarital quality: Implications for
clinicians. Contemporary Family Therapy, 29(1–2), 9–23.[link]

Ganong, L., & Coleman, M. (2018). Studying stepfamilies: Four eras of family scholarship. Family process, 57(1), 7-24.[link]

Ganong, L., Jensen, T., Sanner, C., Russell, L., & Coleman, M. (2019). Stepfathers’ affinity-seeking with stepchildren, stepfather-stepchild relationship quality, marital quality, and stepfamily cohesion among stepfathers and mothers. Journal of Family Psychology, 33(5), 521. [Link]

Gathergood, J. (2012). Debt and depression: causal links and social norm effects. The Economic Journal, 122(563), 1094-1114.[link]

Gurman, A. S. (2008). A framework for the comparative study of couple therapy: History, models, and applications. [Link]

Hetherington, E. M., & Kelly, J. (2002). For better or for worse: Divorce reconsidered. National Review-Bristol Connecticut, 54(5), 50-51.[link]

Higginbotham, B., & Agee, L. (2013). Endorsement of remarriage beliefs, spousal consistency, and remarital adjustment. Marriage & Family Review, 49(2), 177-190. [Link]

Hu, Y., & To, S. (2018). Family relations and remarriage postdivorce and postwidowhood in China. Journal of Family Issues, 39(8), 2286-2310.[link]

Iran Welfare Organization. (2017). remarry Retrieved from: https://www.behzisti.ir/news. [link]

Jensen, L. C. (2017). An Arctic ‘marriage of inconvenience’: Norway and the othering of Russia. Polar Geography, 40(2), 121-143.[link]

Juby, H., Le Bourdais, C., & Marcil-Gratton, N. (2001, March). A step further: Parenthood in blended families. In Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America, Washington, DC, March (Vol. 29).[link]

Kamali, Z., Allahyar, N., Ostovar, S., Alhabshi, S. M. S. B. S. M., & Griffiths, M. D. (2020). Factors that influence marital intimacy: A qualitative analysis of Iranian married couples. Cogent Psychology, 7(1), 1771118. [link]

Karimi, R., Bakhtiyari, M., & Arani, A. M. (2019). Protective factors of marital stability in long-term marriage globally: a systematic review. Epidemiology and health, 41. [link]

Kvanli, J. A., & Jennings, G. (2021). Recoupling: Development and establishment of the spousal subsystem in remarriage. In The Divorce Process (pp. 189-203). Routledge.[link]

Laxman, D. J., Higginbotham, B. J., MacArthur, S. S., & Plummer Lee, C. (2019). A test of the family stress model using a remarriage sample. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 60(7), 518-536.[link]

Lewandowski, A. S., Palermo, T. M., Stinson, J., Handley, S., & Chambers, C. T. (2010). Systematic review of family functioning in families of children and adolescents with chronic pain. The journal of pain, 11(11), 1027-1038.[link]

Li, X., Jiang, Q., Cheng, X., & Ge, T. (2023). Remarriage After Divorce and Health in Later Life: Findings From CHARLS in China. Journal of Family Issues, 44(2), 560-582.[link]

Lincoln, Y. S., Lynham, S. A., & Guba, E. G. (2011). Paradigmatic controversies, contradictions, and emerging confluences, revisited. The Sage handbook of qualitative research, 4(2), 97-128.[link]

McCarthy, B. W., & Ginsberg, R. L. (2007). Second marriages: Challenges and risks. The Family Journal, 15(2), 119-123.[link]

McNulty, J. K., Wenner, C. A., & Fisher, T. D. (2015). Longitudinal associations among
relationship satisfaction, sexual satisfaction, and frequency of sex in early marriage.
Archives of Sexual Behavior, 45(1), 85–97.[link]

Mirecki, R. M., Brimhall, A. S., & Bramesfeld, K. D. (2013). Communication during conflict: Differences between individuals in first and second marriages. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 54(3), 197-213.[link]

Moblian, A., Dayarian, M., & yousefi, Z. (2021). Prediction of Marital Relationship Quality based on Personality Factors, Glasser's basic Needs and Self- Acceptance. Applied Psychology, 15(4), 232-207. [link]

Moghadasali, S., Mirhashemi, M., & Bagheri, N. (2021). The Role Communication Patterns and Identity Styles on Prediction Marital Satisfaction: A Discriminational Study. Applied Psychology, 15(1), 168-141. [link]

Mohammadi, R., and Mohammadi, Z. (2018). Challenges of remarriage of women with children: a qualitative research. Women in Development and Politics (Women's Research), 17(1), 119-97. [link]

Moorman, S. M., Booth, A., & Fingerman, K. L. (2006). Women’s romantic relationships after widowhood. Journal of Family Issues, 27(9), 1281-1304.[link]

Nguyen, O. T., & Pawle, R. H. (2021). A Thematic Analysis Study about Remarriage of Elderly Men in Vietnam. Scholar: Human Sciences, 13(2), 286-286.[link]

Pace, G. T., Shafer, K., Jensen, T. M., & Larson, J. H. (2015). Stepparenting issues and relationship quality: The role of clear communication. Journal of social work, 15(1), 24-44.[link]

Papernow, P. L. (2018). Clinical guidelines for working with stepfamilies: What family, couple, individual, and child therapists need to know. Family Process, 57(1), 25-51. [Link]

Petronio, S. (2017). Communication privacy management theory: Understanding families. In Engaging theories in family communication (pp. 87-97). Routledge.[link]

Raley, R. K., & Sweeney, M. M. (2020). Divorce, repartnering, and stepfamilies: A decade in review. Journal of Marriage and Family, 82(1), 81-99. [Link]

Saint-Jacques, M. C., Godbout, E., Gherghel, A., Parent, C., Drapeau, S., & Robitaille, C. (2016). Stepfamily break-up: A qualitative analysis of trajectories and processes. Journal of divorce & remarriage, 57(8), 517-541. [link]

Santos, C., Higginbotham, B. J., Costa, M. E., & Martins, M. V. (2023). The Remarriage Belief Inventory: A Validation Study in the Remarried Portuguese Population. Journal of Family Issues, 44(9), 2379-2397.[link]

Sassler, S., & Lichter, D. T. (2020). Cohabitation and marriage: Complexity and diversity in union‐formation patterns. Journal of Marriage and Family, 82(1), 35-61.[link]

Seifi Ghozlu, S. J., Sadri Damirchi, E., Rezaei Sharif, A., & Sheykholeslami, A. (2023). Investigating Psychological-Marital Problems of Women who Filed for a Divorce and Examining the Effectiveness of Affective-Reconstructive Therapy on It. Applied Psychology, 17(2), 217-243.[link]

Seyed Moharrami, A., Ghanbari Hashemabadi, B. A., and Asghari Ebrahimabadi, M. J. (2015). The effectiveness of structured group counseling on family functioning and marital satisfaction. Clinical and Counseling Psychology Research, 2(6), 63-78. [link]

Statistical Center of Iran. (2021). Remarriage retrieved from: https://www.amar.org.ir. [link]

Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (2011). Fundamentals of qualitative research, techniques and stages of production of grounded theory. [link]

Suri, G., Guderzi, K., and Rozbahani, M. (2020). The effectiveness of the communication enrichment package of remarried families on their family functioning. Journal of the Faculty of Medicine of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, 64(2), 2932-2943. [link]

Van Eeden-Moorefield, B., & Pasley, B. K. (2013). Remarriage and stepfamily life. In Handbook of marriage and the family (pp. 517-546). Boston, MA: Springer US. [Link]

Yekele, M., Mohsenzadeh, F., and Zahrakar, K. (2017). Studying the quality of remarriage after divorce, a foundational data approach. Social Work Quarterly, 7,3, 31-76. [link]

Zahl-Olsen, R., Thuen, F., & Espehaug, B. (2019). Divorce and remarriage in Norway: a prospective cohort study between 1981 and 2013. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 60(8), 600-611.[link]