A separação conjugal na contemporaneidade: motivos, circunstâncias e contextos

• Ano de defesa: 2010
• Autor(a) principal: Zordan, Eliana Piccoli
• Orientador(a): Strey, Marlene Neves
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul; Porto Alegre
• Palavras-chave em Português: PSICOLOGIA; SEPARAÇÃO CONJUGAL; RELAÇÕES DE GÊNERO; COMPORTAMENTO (PSICOLOGIA)
• Link de acesso: http://hdl.handle.net/10923/4828

This dissertation concerns the dissolution of the conjugal bond. It involves theoretical reflection, field work with analysis of judicial proceedings of separation, interviews with separated persons from both sexes, and content analyses of men’s and women’s magazines concerning love relationships, sexuality, behavior patterns, and gender relations. The theoretical basis is Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems model and gender theory. The dissertation volume is composed of five articles, each one analyzing different aspects of the central theme: the maintenance and dissolution of love relationships. In the empirical study of judicial proceedings we utilized quantitative methodology; in the other studies, we utilized a qualitative methodology of content analysis. Conjugal separations are a complex phenomenon which involves personal, individual, and contextual aspects covering individuals’ family of origin, their professional and social networks which are permeated with beliefs, ideologies, and political and economic systems that characterize the culture of a given society. Separation can occur at any stage of the individual, couple, and family vital cycle, and is not restricted to a specific group of socio-demographic characteristics; thus, it can be considered a vital crisis. The observation that unions are no longer obligatory for life, and can be broken at any moment, generates greater instability and anxiety. This fact can lead to greater investment in relationship maintenance, or can lead to less commitment and little investment. Analysis of judicial proceedings found the following alleged separation motives: frequent fights and arguments, spousal aggression, legalization of a de facto separation, spousal alcoholism, aggressions involving children, abandonment of the home by men, death threats, and the non-fulfillment of marital duties. In the interviews, the motives of principal relevance for separation were infidelity and the non-acceptance of traditional roles, that is, the relational dominance of men and the role of men as exclusive providers. The findings demonstrate that people desire a truer and more egalitarian relationship, in which men accept that women have more rights, but that these rights also be accompanied by duties. The content of men’s and women’s magazines demarcates masculine and feminine space with distinctive objects and with little chance of promoting togetherness and mutual satisfaction. The magazines serve as a mirror of what exists in society and also propose forms of behavior and relationship, at times in the direction of overcoming stereotypes, at other times confirming and crystallizing stereotypes. In comparing the 8 two implicit profiles in these magazines and supposing that they have some type of interference in people’s lives, it is no wonder that there are so many mismatches between both sexes. Keywords: conjugal separation; motives, contexts, gender relations, behavior patterns.