Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore middle - aged women who visited the counseling center with having main issue, graduating the marriage life. For this purpose, in-depth interviews were conducted with 6 participants (4 main participants, 2 assistant participants) residing in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do. This study conducted qualitative analysis through phenomenological research method. Based on the 26 common units experienced by four participants in the main study, it was extracted to eight components and two key meanings. The results of this study are as follows: First, participants of this study did not want divorce as well as did not want to live together. The second is that despite of wanting 'freedom', it does mean 'liberty given by spouse' not 'freedom to acquire oneself'. The third, that's why participant wanted 'marriage graduating' was 'I can not get money from my husband if I get divorced', I can't work anything, and 'I have children' Finally, all participants thought that it was actually 'impossible' to 'graduating the marriage life'. The significance of this study is to analyze the thought and psychological essence of middle - aged women who want to 'graduating on the marriage' and to search for the background of that in society. This study also provided direction information to counselors who counseled middle-aged women wanting to 'graduating on the marriage' how the counselors approach to them.