ABSTRACT
In this article the Drs. Perls look at twelve couples who have each been married at least 30 years. Common values among the couples are explored including commitment, mutual respect, philosophical viewpoints, and monogamy. Developmental experiences and socio-cultural changes are presented as a framework for understanding how this particular sample of couples continued in their longterm relationships with satisfaction.
Common values among the couples are explored including commitment, mutual respect, philosophical viewpoints, and monogamy. Developmental experiences and socio-cultural changes are presented as a framework for understanding how this particular sample of couples continued in their longterm relationships with satisfaction. Many of today’s new couples will not settle for anything less than what each one wants. A lot of young people today have survived the break up of several parental relationships, and so it appears, do not assume any kind of permanence. The longterm couples would acknowledge that their spouses influenced personality development in both obvious and subtle ways. Politics has proven more controversial for these longtime couples than religion, although still to a very minor degree. Few partners acknowledge the wish to live alone, but in strongly bonded longterm relationships it appears that there is a powerful wish not to be alive without the other.
