ALMEIDA, Kelma Assunção Sousa Lacerda de. A qualitative and psychoanalytic study about marriage and its transformations: the wife as the main provider. 2024. (Tese de Doutorado) – Instituto de Psicologia, Universidade de São Paulo, 2024.
Available on: https://doi.org/10.11606/T.47.2024.tde-10072024-172214
Abstract: Dealing with the many transformations in relationships within a constantly changing society creates a challenge for long-term marriages, especially when we focus on dual-career couples in which the woman is the main provider. Considering this, our research adopted Linked Psychoanalysis as its theoretical framework and aimed to analyze the impact of this context on the psychodynamics of four heterosexual dual-career couples in which the woman is the main provider. All couples were middle class, married for at least five years, with or without children. Semi-directed interviews were conducted with each couple, and the Drawing-of-Family-with-Story Procedure (DF-E) was applied individually to each spouse. Data collection was conducted remotely due to the restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic. Discomforts related to the wives’ position as the main provider did not emerge as a source of manifest conflict in any of the couples. The Family Drawing-with-Story material, as a significant complementary tool for understanding psychic phenomena, confirmed the interpretations of unconscious emotional overload in women and, in men, difficulties in expressing themselves and talking about their feelings and weaknesses. Regarding the division of domestic tasks, three of the four men in the survey were responsible for most of the household duties, while their wives spent more time at work. This male behavior may indicate an important change that has been demanded by women since they entered the job market. An interesting finding of the study was that, in all the participants’ families of origin, the main provider was a woman. This suggests evidence of psychic transmission present in each linked story. We observed that, in the generation preceding that of the research participants, changes in the traditional model of marriage were already underway. However, these shifts could not be fully experienced due to the slow pace at which processes of value transformation occur within society. Among the couples studied, the model of egalitarian conjugality was still emerging. Recognition, an important factor for egalitarian conjugality, was not observed in the sample studied; rather, what emerged was only a conscious awareness of the concrete situation experienced by the couple. The presence of recognition can serve as an indicator of changes in relational functioning, as well as respect and empathy toward the new roles occupied by men and women in the marital relationship. Finally, we hope that the findings of this research, concerning the repercussions of marital psychodynamics in couples and families in which the woman is the main provider, can contribute to the construction of more egalitarian relationships and to greater understanding both between partners and within society.