Background and purpose

Marital burnout is a painful state of fatigue, physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion and affects couples who expect ideal love to give meaning to their lives (Kebritchi & Mohammadkhani, 2016). This condition occurs when couples realize that despite their efforts, their relationship with their lives will not have any special meaning (Asgari & Goodarzi, 2018). Recognizing the factors affecting marital burnout is one of the priorities. One of the variables related to couples' marital burnout is procrastination (Raisi, 2016). Thus, procrastination, along with other factors, can lead to dissatisfaction with marital relationships and, consequently, marital burnout. Procrastination means neglecting, evading, delaying, and postponing to the future the tasks and goals we have decided to pursue (Steel & Ferrari, 2013). Procrastination in relation to marital issues means delaying or avoiding the responsibilities and duties that each man and woman commit to after marriage (Mohammadi & Abdi, 2018). Previous research has shown that procrastination can negatively affect couples' relationships (Raisi, 2016; Mohammadi & Abdi, 2018). Since healthy interpersonal relationships are a component of lifestyle, procrastination can also negatively affect various aspects of a couple's lifestyle. A health-promoting lifestyle focuses on improving the quality of life through a lifestyle that includes the six dimensions of physical activity, nutrition, health responsibility, spiritual growth, interpersonal relationships, and stress management. This lifestyle promotes health and happiness and leads to satisfaction in various aspects of life and self-healing (Jalili Bahabadi et al., 2020). In general, it can be said that the study of marital burnout of couples and various elements affecting it, including procrastination and lifestyle, can lead to preventive policies and support of family, especially women. Therefore, the present study seeks to examine this hypothesis: "marital burnout of couples is predictable based on procrastination and lifestyle."

Method

The present study was a descriptive correlational study. The population consists of all couples living in the 4th district of Tehran in 2020, of which 120 couples were selected through the available sampling method.

Marital Burnout Questionnaire: This questionnaire is a self-report instrument developed by Pines (1996) to measure marital burnout. This questionnaire consists of 21 items that indicate burnout syndrome and has three main components; 1). Physical exhaustion 2). Emotional exhaustion and 3). Mental exhaustion.

Tuckman's Procrastination Assessment Questionnaire: This questionnaire is a 16-item self-report scale designed by Tuckman to measure procrastination in 1991 and is objectively graded and interpreted.

Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile-II (HPLP-II): This questionnaire is a 52-item self-report scale designed to measure Health-Promoting lifestyles by Walker, Sechrist, and Pender in 1987 and includes six subscales of Health Responsibility, Physical Activity, Nutrition, Spiritual Growth, Interpersonal Relationships, and Stress Management.

Results

Data were analyzed by Pearson correlation and multivariate regression analysis.

According to the results of Table 1, because the calculated F for all predictor variables is greater than the critical value of F (with df 7 and 232 and a significance level of p <.01), then the null hypothesis is rejected. Given the rejection of the null hypothesis, it can be concluded that lifestyle and procrastination are predictors of marital burnout.

Table 1.

Results of linear regression in predicting marital burnout based on procrastination and lifestyle

The results of Table 2. show the significance of predictor variables' effect on the criterion variable through t-test. Effects with a value of t greater than 1.96 are considered significant. According to the results, calculated t for the predictor variables of procrastination, physical activity, and spiritual growth is greater than the critical value of t (at the significance level of .05), so the null hypothesis is rejected, and it can be concluded with 95% confidence that these variables are effective in predicting marital burnout.

Table 2.

Standardized and unstandardized regression coefficients, t-test, and linearity of predictor variables

Conclusion

The results showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between marital burnout and procrastination. Since procrastinating people have a great desire to procrastinate in starting and ending a relationship, they have no desire to perform the duties and responsibilities related to the marital relationship or are less inclined to get married and doing the responsibilities that come with it. Over time, this leads to a vicious cycle between procrastination and marital problems and causes problems in the relationship with the spouse. In the long run, the marital relationship is seriously disrupted and leads to dissatisfaction and marital burnout. The results also showed that there is a significant negative relationship between marital burnout and lifestyle. A couple's lifestyle based on cooperation and shared goals and aspirations leads to a life with marital satisfaction. Also, by changing and modifying their lifestyle, incompatible and burnt-out couples can put aside their selfish and inefficient tendencies and choose goals with high prosocial tendencies. Therefore, an appropriate and adult couple lifestyle can increase the understanding of the spouses and lead to satisfaction in various aspects of life and, consequently, prevent marital burnout and dissatisfaction.

Ethical Considerations

Compliance with ethical guidelines 

All subjects participated in the study by filling out a consent form, and the researchers assured them that their identity was kept confidential.

Funding: The study was conducted at the personal expense of researchers.

Authors' contribution: In conducting this research, the first author was responsible for data collection, writing the article; The second author supervised the study and reviewed the paper. The third author was responsible for the statistical analysis.

Conflict of interest: This research is not in conflict with personal or organizational interests.

Acknowledgments: The authors would like to thank all the participants in this study.