Exploring Self-Concepts of Longer-Term Divorcees in Lithuania

Abstract

While research has focused on self-concept before or after marriage dissolution, very little research has investigated how individuals understand and evaluate themselves during the longer-lasting and usually highly conflictual divorce process. Qualitative interview data with Lithuanians 6 months or more into their divorce processes suggest that divorcees experience marital dissolution as an interchange of three main processes: losing valued self-parts, a (re)birth of a more valued self, and hanging-self as being stuck in ongoing uncertainty with a need to protect valued parts of oneself. The theoretical and practical implications of these research findings are discussed.