The Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association
Abstract
This study was designed to investigate attitudes concerning marital perceptions and life satisfaction of middle-aged husbands and wives who were in one of two periods of life. Couples in the postparental period were considered to be those who had launched all their children from the home, while couples in the parental period were considered to be those who still had some children in the home. A total of 160 subjects, that is, 80 couples were identified from two sources of intact marriages in the city of Edmonton. Forty of these couples constituted a counselled (C) sample ofmiddle-aged couples who were engaged in marital or family counselling at the time of this investigation. The noncounselled (NC) sample was comprised of 40 middle-aged couples who were not receiving counselling. A modified version of the Middle Years Life Satisfaction Scale (MYLSS), designed by Stinnett and Hayes (1971) was used to measure life satisfaction and the Middle Years Marital Perception Scale (MYMPS), which was based on an older person's perception scale, designed by Stinnett, Carter and Montgomery (1972), was used to obtain background information from the subjects and to investigate their perceptions of marriage. The results of the study ndicated that the NC and C samples of middle-aged couples were significantly different from one another with respect to life and marital satisfaction but that they were very similar in other respects, particularly in their reactions to the launching of the last child from the home. Certain qualities that were characteristic of being middle aged also became apparent.Cette étude examine chez des époux et des épouses ayant atteint un âge moyen leurs attitudes face à leurs perceptions comme couple et à leur satisfaction de vivre. Ces couples appartenaient à l'un de deux groupes selon que leurs enfants habitaient encore avec eux ou avaient déjà tous quitté le foyer. Quatre-vingts couples de la région d'Edmonton participèrent à cette étude. Quarante couples (C) suivaient desstages de consultation lors de l'enquête. Les autres couples (NC) ne recevaient aucune forme de consultation. On utilisa une forme modifiée du Middle Years Life Satisfaction Scale (MYLSS) établi par Stinnett et Hayes (1971) pour mesurer le degré de satisfaction de vivre. Pour obtenir les renseignements d'usage des conjoints et pour étudier leurs perceptions du mariage, on employa le Middle Years Marital Perception Scale (MYMPS) de Stinnett, Carter et Montgomery (1972). Cette échelle est établie selon les perceptions d'une personne plus âgée. Les résultats de l'enquête indiquent que les groupes NC et C se distinguent l'un de l'autre par rapport à la satisfaction de vivre et d'être marié. Par contre, ces deux groupes se ressemblent sous plusieurs autres aspects, plus particulièrement leurs réactions lors du départ du dernier enfant de la maison. Certaines qualités pertinentes aux personnes de cet âge sont également devenues évidentes
