Explaining Occupational Themes of Marital Dissatisfaction in Dual-Career Couples: A Qualitative Study

Today, dual-career couples are becoming increasingly prevalent around the world. Due to the nature of the life of this group of people, the existence of multiple roles in the fields of work and the family, and the resulting marital problems, the present study aimed to explain occupational themes of marital dissatisfaction in dual-career couples.

The present study is a qualitative study that performs interpretive phenomenological analysis through semi-structured interviews with 13 dual-career couples. Participants were purposefully selected from those who referred to counseling centers in Ardabil County, according to the inclusion criteria. Before the interviews, the participants, in addition to signing informed consent forms, responded to the sexual and marital satisfaction scale for initial evaluations and entry into the research. The thematic analysis method was used for data analysis.

Based on participants’ responses to the research questions, occupational themes of sexual and marital dissatisfaction with the dual career situation were classified into two main themes, including work-family conflicts and financial conflicts with five sub-themes and 12 categories.

Based on the results, occupational themes of marital dissatisfaction in dual-career couples have different dimensions. Due to the lack of qualitative research in this field, the results of the present study could be applied in the fields of psychopathology as well as in the prevention and treatment of marital and sexuality problems among dual-career couples.