Women’s experience of divorce. Acta biomedica scientifica

The article is devoted to the problem of studying the experience of women going through the situation of divorce at different stages of the divorce and post-divorce period.
Methods. The study was carried out at the intersection of idiographic and nomothetic approaches. At the first stage, the specifics of the experience of experiencing divorce in the online space are described, revealed through an interpretive-phenomenological analysis of the content of a closed Internet forum (n = 297). On the second – the specifics of emotional perception, cognitive assessment and coping with the situation of divorce, depending on the post-divorce experience (n = 50).
Results. The experience of divorce by women is accompanied by ambivalent emotions, activates the understanding of the situation and coping with it. Online communication is an effective strategy focused on getting support, self-change, designing the future, allowing you to experience a sense of community in a life situation while maintaining psychological safety. The assessment of the divorce situation and coping strategies are specific: women who have gone through a divorce less than 3 years ago are more likely to seek social support; from 3 to 10 years – prefer the strategy of “flight-avoidance”; more than 10 years ago – “positive revaluation”.
Conclusion. The experience of women experiencing the situation of divorce, including emotional, cognitive and conative components, is specific depending on the stage of the divorce and post-divorce period. An effective mechanism for shaping the experience of experiencing a divorce is network communication in a closed group of people who have similar problems.

1. Sardon JP. Recent demographic trends in the developed countries. Population Eng Ed. 2002; 59(2): 263-314. doi: 10.3917/pope.402.0263

2. Arianfar N, Zamanshoar E, Rasuli R, Yusefzade I. Common themes in the divorce transition experience of women based on their locus of control. J Divorce Remarriage. 2004; 61(3): 206-224. doi: 10.1080/10502556.2019.1699369

3. Ippolitova EA, Shvedenko YV. Specifics the crisis of the men and women in situation of collapse of a young family. The World of Science, Culture and Education. 2011; 5(30): 169-172. (In Russ.).

4. Kostarev VV. Psychological predictors of mental health problems in spouses in the situation of divorce. Siberian Herald of Psychiatry and Addiction Psychiatry. 2017; 3(96): 64-70. (In Russ.). doi: 10.26617/1810-3111-2017-3(96)-64-70

5. Sidorkina YuA, Razuvaeva LN. Psychological effects of divorce. Aktualizatsiya personal’nykh resursov lichnosti: Materialy Vserossiyskoy nauchno-prakticheskoy konferentsii. Penza: Penzenskiy gosudarstvennyy universitet; 2019: 21-25. (In Russ.).

6. Colman El, Symoens S, Bracke P. Professional health care use and subjective unmet need for social or emotional problems: A cross-sectional survey of the married and divorced population of flanders. BMC Health Services Research. 2012; 12(1): 420. doi: 10.1186/1472-6963-12-420

7. Hald GM, Ciprić A, Sander S, Strizzi JM. Anxiety, depression and associated factors among recently divorced individuals. J Mental Health. 2020; 1-9. doi: 10.1080/09638237.2020.1755022

8. Cohen O, Finzi-Dottan R. Reasons for divorce and mental health following the break up. J Divorce Remarriage. 2012; 53: 581-601. doi: 10.1080/10502556.2012.719413

9. Bronselaer J, Koker B, Christine P. The impact of divorce on the health status of ex-partners. Arch Public Health. 2008; 66: 168-186. URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321860112 [date of access: 25.11.2021].

10. Joung I, Stronks K, Poppel F, Mackenbach JP. Differences in self-reported morbidity by marital status and by living arrangement. Int J Epidemiol. 1994; 23(1): 91-97. doi: 10.1093/ije/23.1.91

11. Pienta A, Hayward M, Rahrig K. Health consequences of marriage for the retirement years. J Fam Issues. 2000; 21(5): 559-586. doi: 10.1177/019251300021005003

12. Berntsen KN, Kravdal О. The relationship between mortality and time since divorce, widowhood or remarriage in Norway. Soc Sci Med. 2012; 75: 2267-2274. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.08.028

13. Shor E, Roelfs DJ, Bugyi P, Schwartz JE. Meta-analysis of marital dissolution and mortality: Reevaluating the intersection of gender and age. Soc Sci Med. 2012; 75: 46-59. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.03.010

14. Крючков К.С. Переживание любовной разлуки – опыт феноменологического анализа. Психолог. 2019; 2: 9-27. doi: 10.25136/2409-8701.2019.2.27954

15. Kołodziej-Zaleska А, Przybyła-Basista Н. The role of egoresiliency in maintaining post-divorce well-being in initiators and non-initiators of divorce. J Divorce Remarriage. 2020; 61(5): 366-383. doi: 10.1080/10502556.2020.1768487

16. Ponomareva IM. Specificity and stages of counseling individuals in crisis situation of divorce. Scientific Notes: Journal of St. Petersburg State Institute of Psychology and Social Work. 2014; 1(21): 45-52. (In Russ.).

17. Al Ubaidi BA. The psychological and emotional stages of divorce. Journal Fam Med Dis Prev. 2017; 3(3): 1-4. doi: 10.23937/2469-5793/1510060

18. Zmievskaya AA. Psychological well-being of single mothers in the post-divorce period. Psikhologiya stressa i sovladayushchego povedeniya: resursy, zdorov’e, razvitie: Materialy IV Mezhdunarodnoy nauchnoy konferentsii. Kostroma: KGU im. N.A. Nekrasova; 2016; 2: 56-59. (In Russ.).

19. Arianfar N, Zamanshoar E, Rasuli R, Yusefzade I. Common themes in the divorce transition experience of women based on their locus of control. J Divorce Remarriage. 2020; 61(3): 206-224. doi: 10.1080/10502556.2019.1699369

20. Yekimchik OA, Kryukova TL. Coping with close relationship dissolution. Vestnik of Kostroma State University. Series: Pedagogy. Psychology. Sociokinetics. 2015; 21(4): 117-124. (In Russ.).

21. McAlexander JH, Schouten JW, Roberts SR. Consumer behavior in coping strategies for divorce. Adv Consum Res.1992; 19:555-556.

22. Chebotareva EYu, Koroleva EV. Psychological well-being of middle-aged women with different marital status. Role of separation from the parental family. Family Psychology and Psychotherapy. 2019; 3: 19-44. (In Russ.). doi: 10.24411/2587-6783-2019-10002

23. Vlasova EYu, Laptev LG. Psychology of the behavior of divorced women and their relationship to the family. Human Capital. 2017; 7(103): 69-75. (In Russ.).

24. Haikal M, Latipun L. The resilience of women who are divorced and choose to live with their children. Psychol Behav Sci. 2020; 9(4): 44-49. doi: 10.11648/j.pbs.20200904.12

25. Vasilyuk FE. Psychology of experience (analysis of overcoming critical situations). Moscow: Izdatel’stvo Moskovskogo universiteta; 1984. (In Russ.).

26. Znakov VV. Psychology of human understanding of the world. Moscow: Institut psikhologii RAN; 2016: 147-148. (In Russ.).

27. Andreev VV, Andreev VV. Psychological concept of overcoming: theory, methodology, diagnostics. Rossiyskiy psikhologicheskiy zhurnal. 2019; 16(3): 20-32. (In Russ.). doi: 10.21702/rpj.2019.3.2

28. Malenova AYu, Potapova YuV. On the question of methods for diagnosing cognitive assessment of stressful situations. In: Surnina OE, Sergeeva TB (eds). Psikhodiagnostika v sovremennom mire. Ekaterinburg; 2015: 126-132. (In Russ.).

29. Kryukova TL. Methods for studying coping behavior: Three coping scales. Kostroma: KGU im. N.A. Nekrasova-Avantitul; 2010. (In Russ.).

30. Pietkiewicz IJ, Smith JA. A practical guide to using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis in qualitative research psychology. Czasopismo Psychologiczne – Psychological Journal. 2014; 20(1): 7-14. doi: 10.14691/CPPJ.20.1.7