The Lived Experience of Sacrifice in enduring marriages: A Descriptive Phenomenological Psychological Study

Sacrifice is regarded an important component in improving the quality of enduring marital relationship. The purpose of this study was to study the lived experience of sacrifice in marital relationship and identify the final structure of the sacrifice phenomenon among the research participants.
In this descriptive phenomenological Psychological study a total of 10 participants were selected using purposive-voluntary sampling and conducting in-depth interview until data saturation was reached.
Data analysis led to a structure which included 12 constituents: 1- Having a sense of love for wife in marriage, 2- having a sense of humanity, conscience and personal development, 3- belief in religious, spiritual and sacrifice behaviors, 4- belief in the necessity of mutual sacrifice behaviors, 5-perception of one-way and damaging sacrifice, 6- belief in correlates of sacrifice behavior such as forgiveness and tolerance of hardship, 7- need to be appreciated for sacrificing behavior, 8- perceiving sacrifice as unselfishness and devoting self for another, 9- having a long-term positive attitude and commitment toward marriage, 10- sacrificing because of factors other than spouse such as children, 11- modeling the family of origin, and 12- considering gender differences in sacrifice behaviors.
The results of this study have implications for counseling centers and professionals in education and couple therapy as well as premarital counseling .With understanding the structure of sacrifice, as defined in the present study, will help couple avoid marital dissatisfaction and enhance marital quality and satisfaction.