Qualitative study on perceptions of marriage among married people - In comparison with single life -

기혼자 '결혼' 인식에 대한 질적 연구 - '싱글'과 대비한 '결혼' 인식 -

  • Ryu, Kyung-Hee (Dept. of Child Development and Family Studies, Changwon National University) ;
  • Wang, Seok-Soon (Dept. of Home Economics Education, Jeon-ju University)
  • Received : 2011.03.21
  • Accepted : 2011.04.09
  • Published : 2011.06.30

Abstract

In this work, we investigated the perceptions of marriage among married people through in-depth interviews with twenty-two married men and women. The results of our analysis on the in-depth interviews are as follows. 1. Married men and women are well aware of the fact that. in a marriage life, one must sacrifice something in order to get anything. That is, even though they have yearning for their lost days of single life and they miss those days, on the other hand, they think that, through marriage, they feel more stable with a sense of belonging to the family. and they are no longer feeling lonely. 2. Married people consider that marriage is something you really have to experience yourself before one knows what it is like to be married. That is, they consider that, while, being single is just like tasting only a little bit of the flavor of life, marriage is like tasting the true meaning of life. The true meanings of life that married people are trying to find are "the strength they get from their family and children", "the journey of finding one's true self through overcoming hardships of life", "the joy and comfort of living together as a family", and finally "the broader life experience and higher quality of life".

본 연구에서는 기혼자 22명을 대상으로 심층면접을 통하여 기혼자의 '결혼'에 대한 인식을 살펴보았다. 심층 면접 자료를 분석한 결과는 다음과 같다. 1. 기혼자들은 결혼을 통해 얻는 것이 있으면 잃는 것이 있다는 양면을 잘 인식하고 있었다. 즉 결혼을 하면서 잃어버린 자신의 세계에 대한 동경이 있고, 자유로웠던 싱글 시기를 그리워하고 아쉬워하지만, 반면에 결혼을 통해 안정감과 소속감을 얻게 되었고 외롭지 않다고 한다. 2. 기혼자들은 결혼은 경험하지 않으면 모르는 세계라고 인식한다. 싱글은 인생의 간만 보는 것이라면 결혼은 인생의 맛을 보는 것이라고 인식한다. 기혼자들이 결혼의 삶에서 찾아나가는 '맛'은 '가족과 자식의 힘', '인생 고비 뒤의 나를 찾아가는 길', '함께 하는 삶의 즐거움과 편안함', '넓어지는 삶의 폭, 높아지는 삶의 질'이다.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

Supported by : 태평양 학술문화재단