Abstract
This study aimed to understand the movements of continuities and discontinuities in contemporary conceptions of marriage from the perspective of couples in long term marriages, that is, those that last longer than 30 years. Seven couples (mean age = 68.9 years) who were married for 45.7 years on average. Semi-structured interviews with each couple were carried out (dyad). The results showed that respect for freedom to marry and divorce seems to be the innovation that most affected the interviewed couples. Participants had to restructure their marriage conceptions in order to deal with the new possibilities that emerge nowadays. Perceived changes are associated with the behavior of couples in contemporary days and not to the structure of marriage as institution, seen as stable and reliable.
Keywords
marriage; marital relations; couple dynamics