Spousal self-disclosure and couple burnout among married individuals

This study aims to investigate the relationship between spousal self-disclosure and couple burnout of married individuals; to determine sociodemographic variables affecting spousal self-disclosure and couple burnout of married individuals; to reveal profiles of spousal self-disclosure and couple burnout of married individuals regarding these sociodemographic variables. The study group included 453 married individuals residing in Turkey in 2018-2019. The data were collected through "Spousal Self-Disclosure Scale", "Couple Burnout Measure" and "Personal Information Form". Pearson's Correlation Coefficient, MANOVA, Scheffe's Test and t-test were used to analyze the data. The error margin was determined as .05. Results indicate that there is a moderate, negative and significant relationship between levels of spousal self-disclosure and couple burnout of married individuals. MANOVA results show that satisfaction with sexual-life, frequency of sharing the house-work, wishing to re-marry the current spouse, and harsh discussions between spouses have a significant effect on the levels of spousal self-disclosure and couple burnout. However, MANOVA results indicate that variables of education level, working situation, duration of marriage, age difference between spouses, the number of children and interference frequency of the root family do not significantly influence the levels of spousal self-disclosure and couple burnout. Results show that perceived income level significantly affects the levels of couple burnout, but does not affect the levels of spousal self-disclosure. Profiles of married individuals regarding socio-demographic variables affecting the levels of spousal self-disclosure and couple burnout were revealed. Finally, after discussing the results, implications are provided for married individuals, psychological counselors, researchers and policy makers. Keywords: marriage, married individuals, couple burnout, self-disclosure, spousal self-disclosure