Abstract

DELATORRE, Marina Zanella; MAESIMA, Giovania Mitie; COELHO, Leda Rúbia Maurina  and  WAGNER, Adriana. The life cycle of Brazilian couples: An integrative review. Psicol. clin. [online]. 2022, vol.34, n.1, pp. 57-78. ISSN 0103-5665.  http://dx.doi.org/10.33208/PC1980-5438v0034n01A03.

This study presents an integrative review of Brazilian literature about specific phenomena concerning the phases of the marital evolutionary cycle, such as couple formation, transition to parenthood, conjugality in long-term marriages, and remarriage. The searches were made in the IndexPsi, PEPsic, and Lilacs databases, using the term "couple" combined with "couple formation", "parenting", "children", "empty nest", "long-term", "divorce", and "remarriage". The 471 papers returned from searches were reviewed, resulting in 23 selected articles which were submitted to a quantitative descriptive analysis and to a qualitative thematic analysis. The results showed most studies were qualitative, from the South and Southeast regions, and used the systemic theoretical approach. Thematic analysis identified 14 themes, which were organized in five sets: couple formation, base expansion, preparation and affirmation, late years, and remarried couples. Gaps were found in the investigation of couple relations in certain periods of the life cycle. There is also a need for longitudinal studies to clarify particularities of marital relations in different moments of the life cycle.

Keywords : couple dynamics; life cycle; marital relations; couple; literature review.

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