Consequences of procrastination in marital conflicts: A qualitative study

Outcomes of Procrastination in Marital Conflicts: A Qualitative Study Abstract Background and Objective: In the procedure of cycle of family life, problems and issues occur which result in turbulence for a while. When it comes to disagreement, difference, or lack of compatibility between spouses, conflicts occur. Marital conflicts are one of the most common problems of spouses in today’s world. While conflicts are common in human relationships and especially between spouses, marital conflicts are a harbinger of divorce which may start from simple arguments to serious verbal confrontations, quarrels, physical fight, and ultimately divorce. Marital conflicts are seen when one of or both spouses act selfishly, or when one of the spouses poses different requests and objectives selfishly and without considering capabilities, and starts judgments in case the request is not granted. In such a judgment, the other person is represented as bad, and is punished through silence, rejection, or frank expression of fury and hatred. On the other hand, procrastination is represented in avoiding actions, putting off the chores, and apologizing in order to justify the procrastination. Procrastination is a common and harmful failure in self-regulation which shows low tolerance for failure, perfectionism, anxiety, depression, helplessness, self-doubting, low organizing skills, defense, resistance to change, habit, or a combination of these signs. Procrastination can be considered as a strategy to regulate negative cognitions and emotions. Research procedures for investigating the effect of procrastination in family fields especially in marital conflicts have been scarce. Therefore, the present study aims at investigating the effect of procrastination on formation of marital conflicts. For this purpose, researcher aims to find out what effect procrastination has on marital conflicts. Methodology: This qualitative study was done through content analysis in 2018 in Tehran, Iran. Qualitative studies usually are done in order to achieve a deep understanding of the studied issues. Inclusion criteria: conflicting couples at the discretion of the counselor of the counseling center and willing to participate in the research who were identified by referring to the counseling center. Sampling was done by available method and data were collected through semi-structured interviews, until information saturation was reached. The interview was conducted with 10 people, including 6 men between 25 and 40 and 4 women between 25 and 40, who went to the counseling centre. Findings: 612 primary codes were gathered from the analysis of data, of which 515 were left after review. After analyzing the data, 32 categories were elicited. In the present study, the main theme was discussed. The theme included the outcomes of procrastination in marital conflict, with personal chores procrastination, broken marital system, and timelessness as the main categories. The subsidiary categories included covert procrastination and overt procrastination, lack of trust in relationships, lack of understanding, half-fulfilled roles, lack of commitment in relationships, and lack of attention to time and wasting the time. Based on the ideas of participants, the most important representations of procrastination in formation of marital conflicts were noticed in procrastination in doing personal chores, procrastination in doing family tasks, and weakness in timeliness. Conclusion: It seems that procrastination in personal level not only results in psychological disorganization, but also in outbreak of outcomes in inter-personal relationships, especially in marital relationships. Evidence suggests that lack of trust in relationships, lack of understanding, half-fulfilled roles, and lack of commitment in relationship of spouses is a harbinger of broken marital systems, and procrastination and its outcomes have significant role in formation and continuation of marital conflicts. Therefore, it can be stated that, in investigating procrastination, the issue of time and its outcomes are among the factors of outbreak and continuation of procrastination, and people face problems in personal and social levels, especially in marital relationships, through timelessness. Hence, procrastination can lead to marital conflicts and turbulence in life in many ways. It is hence necessary for newly-wed couples to solve the problems of procrastination in marital life since research indicates procrastination in tasks of marital life leads to an increase in conflicts in spousal relationships, lack of compatibility, and hence in dissatisfaction. Moreover, these problems are considered as elements leading to divorce.