Introducing a Successful Marriage Paradigm: A Qualitative Study

Aim: Successful marriage is the foundation of establishing a stable family. This study was carried out to provide a successful marriage paradigm. Methods: The study was conducted through a qualitative methodology applying grounded theory. The participants of the study were all couples who were living in city of Ahvaz during 2019. To select the participants in this study, a purposeful sampling was administered and as the study advanced, sampling of the desired cases continued until theoretical saturation was reached. At the end, 22 individuals (11 couples) were interviewed using open-ended or structureless questions.  Findings: In grounded theory, data analysis consists of coding the data. Using open coding resulted in 83 initial codes, while using axial coding produced 23 main categories. The  concept of successful marriage was elicited as a central, transparent and explicit category. Conclusion: We can draw a conclusion that a successful marriage is hinged on a thorough and comprehensive transparency of the issues involved in a marital relationship. That is to say either couple expresses openly what they have experienced, not leaving anything vague and ambiguous so that they don’t get the urge to decode and discover it. The paradigm obtained from this study can be used in teaching couples in premarital counseling sessions. It can also be used to treat upset couples and those couples who want to enrich their relationship.