Thematic Analysis of Women’s Lived Experience of Individual Identity Erosion After Marriage

Abstract

This study aimed to explain married women’s lived experience of individual identity erosion after marriage and to identify the psychological, relational, and sociocultural patterns involved in this experience. This qualitative study was conducted using thematic analysis. The participants were 18 married women living in Tehran, Iran, selected through purposive sampling. Inclusion criteria included at least three years of marital experience, self-reported experience of diminished individuality after marriage, willingness to participate, and the ability to articulate personal marital experiences. Data were collected exclusively through in-depth semi-structured interviews, and recruitment continued until theoretical saturation was achieved. Interviews lasted between 45 and 75 minutes, were audio-recorded with participants’ consent, transcribed verbatim, and coded using NVivo software. Data analysis followed Braun and Clarke’s six-phase thematic analysis framework. Credibility and trustworthiness were enhanced through member checking, peer debriefing, prolonged engagement with the data, reflexive memo-writing, and maintaining an audit trail. Data analysis generated 127 initial codes, 18 subthemes, and five main themes: “gradual dissolution of the self into the wife role,” “suspension of personal desires and aspirations,” “normative surveillance of the married woman by family and culture,” “reduced agency in individual and marital decision-making,” and “attempts to reclaim the lost self.” Participants described identity erosion not as a sudden psychological event, but as a gradual process shaped by constant prioritization of the wife role, pressure to adapt, restricted social relations, abandonment of personal plans, and the repeated experience of not being heard within marriage. The findings indicate that women’s identity erosion after marriage is produced through the interaction of gendered role expectations, unequal relational power, emotional and mental labor, and insufficient couple dialogue about individuality and boundaries. Couple therapy and marital counseling should therefore address not only overt conflict, but also agency reconstruction, healthy boundaries, role negotiation, and the preservation of women’s personal identity within marital life.