The dynamics of marital relations in the family of navigators

Abstract

The results of the present study regarding the family functions and marital satisfaction, confirmed the hypothesis of the research, revealing the fact that these are significantly lower in couples where one of the partners is a seafarer, compared to couples where none of the partners has a job that implies going away from home. The explanation of these results consists of the fact that the separation of lifetime partners for a longer period of time produces structural modifications inside the family, modifications that may prove to be disadaptative for the seafarers’ families. The statistic results have also proved that the level of jealousy, but also the number and the impact of conflicts, are upper in the case of couples where one of the partners is a seafarer, compared to couples where none of the partners has a job that implies going away from home, the last two research hypothesis being thusly also validated. Even though jealousy and conflicts are natural phenomena, which may occur in any relationship, in the case of seafarers’ families these are a lot more accentuated especially because of the structural modifications supported by the two protagonists of the couple.