Abstract

CABRERA-GARCIA, Victoria Eugenia; MORALES ACEVEDO, Cheryl Andrea  and  GUARIN ORTEGA, Irma Beatriz. Marital experiences in the empty nest stage: marital satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Civilizar [online]. 2023, vol.23, n.44, e20230102.  Epub Oct 10, 2024. ISSN 1657-8953.  https://doi.org/10.22518/jour.ccsh/20230102.

Couples at the beginning of their marital relationship present high levels of satisfaction, however, due to the dedication to raising their children, this can go into the background, and as a consequence, decrease the satisfaction over the years. This study sought to analyze the experiences of the marital satisfaction during the empty nest stage of Colombian couples. At the beginning, quantitative methodology was used and in a second qualitative stage with a phenomenological tradition that implemented dialogical, participatory and contextualized strategies in a total of 17 participants: 9 women and 8 men. The results describe the discursive orders on how some marriages reach this stage with a high or low level of marital satisfaction. Satisfied and dissatisfied people do not usually express affection and admiration verbally, they usually do it with actions; dissatisfied men want them to seek their attention and they (women) don’t and they think that their children were the center of their aspirations and now there is no point in continuing together. Dissatisfied women see the empty nest as an opportunity to think about themselves because the children are no longer there, they consider that the two must win in an argument. Satisfied men and women over the years have learned to calm down in conflict, and at this stage are more accepting of their wives’ influence. It is concluded that this stage of the life cycle implies various learning and adjustments in marital relationships. In satisfied couples, the feeling of valuing and caring more for being the two of them alone assuming this new experience prevails. In dissatisfied couples, the feeling of being together is important, but without finding a clear meaning for it, they acknowledge that they focused their married life on their children and that at this stage it has not been easy to find themselves as a couple again. These results lead to reflect on the marital experiences of men and women after several years of marriage, in order to direct preventive actions that contribute to the stability of the relationship in the Latin American context.

Keywords : Empty nest; marital satisfaction; marital dissatisfaction; spouses; sons; syndrome.

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