1- Islamic Azad University
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Background and objective: Marriage is the first emotional commitment and legal rights that adults admit and also, as the greatest social formulation for achieving the emotional and safety needs of individuals, has always been considered. With the growing complexity of marriage and family, there is abundant literature on marital relationships and marital quality and an emerging understanding of how marriage might influence the health and well-being. The understanding marital relationship is also very timely given the changes the institution of marriage has been witnessing over the last several decades. The link between “better” or “worse” marriages and “sickness and health” has been a subject of much empirical interest over the last half-century. Being married contributes to concordance in health behaviors over time between spouses. Moreover, marital support may also buffer against the impact of non-marital stressors on health behaviors and increase personal resources (i.e., self-efficacy, self-regulatory capacity) needed for initiating and maintaining health behavior change. The marital strain may add or interact with non-marital stressors leading to increased use of health-compromising behaviors to cope with such stressors and decreasing personal resources that could be used during change attempts. Marital quality is inversely associated with psychological distress. Marital distress has both concurrent and longitudinal associations with psychological distress. In addition, marital problems predict the onset of psychopathology, including mood and anxiety. Symptoms like lack of motivation and fatigue may promote maladaptive health behaviors (i.e., sedentary behavior, poor diet and sleep). Marital commitment refers to the extent to which couples are attached to one another and desire to maintain long‐term marriages, is a key indicator of well-being. A number of studies have shown that separated and divorced couples experience greater risk for mental and physical health problems, as well as can have strong negative consequences for their children, such as impacting their children’s mental health, academic and social performance. Since marriage instability is detrimental to the family unit and society, the importance of identifying the factors that promote marital commitment is overwhelmingly obvious. Although there is substantial literature on the interpersonal predictors for divorce and relationship stability, several important gaps can be identified in the field. Previous research has focused extensively on the impact of negative factors, and has not paid sufficient attention to the role of positive interpersonal processes in marriage dissolution, such as Communication patterns and personality traits such as self-differentiation. The purpose of this study was to predict marital commitment based on relationship patterns with mediatory of self-differentiation.
Methods: The research method was descriptive correlational and the statistical population of this study included married women and men referred to counseling and psychological centers of Tehran in 2018. 400 male and female married women from Tehran counseling centers were selected by the available sampling method. The study tools were Marital Commitment Inventory (Adams & Jones, 1997), Differentiation of Self Inventory (Skowron & Schmitt, 2003) and Communication Patterns Questionnaire (Christensen & Sullaway, 1984). To analyze the data, SPSS and Amos software, structural equation modeling, maximum likelihood and the significant level of 0.05 were used.
Results: Constructive communication patterns (P=0.001, β=0.369) and self-differentiation (P=0.001, β=0.540) were able to predict marital commitment directly and significantly. Avoidance communication pattern negatively and significantly (P=0.001, β=-0.121) and constructive communication pattern positively and significantly (P=0.001, β=0.186) were able to predict marital commitment with the mediatory of self-differentiation.
Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, constructive communication patterns and avoidant non-constructive communication patterns were able to predict marital commitment through self-differentiation. It can be said that a healthy relationship is important to run a family. The degree of differentiation and how women and husbands communicate to each other affects the development of relationships and marital satisfaction, as well as the extent of their commitment. High-level differentiation helps one's emotional and mental systems to function properly. In order to have a successful marriage and succeed in relationships, couples must use a constructive communication model and less of a mutual avoidance model. Differentiated individuals respond better to stress and life problems using constructive communication patterns. With proper thinking, they control emotions, but they allow human emotions and are skilled in human communication.
Methods: The research method was descriptive correlational and the statistical population of this study included married women and men referred to counseling and psychological centers of Tehran in 2018. 400 male and female married women from Tehran counseling centers were selected by the available sampling method. The study tools were Marital Commitment Inventory (Adams & Jones, 1997), Differentiation of Self Inventory (Skowron & Schmitt, 2003) and Communication Patterns Questionnaire (Christensen & Sullaway, 1984). To analyze the data, SPSS and Amos software, structural equation modeling, maximum likelihood and the significant level of 0.05 were used.
Results: Constructive communication patterns (P=0.001, β=0.369) and self-differentiation (P=0.001, β=0.540) were able to predict marital commitment directly and significantly. Avoidance communication pattern negatively and significantly (P=0.001, β=-0.121) and constructive communication pattern positively and significantly (P=0.001, β=0.186) were able to predict marital commitment with the mediatory of self-differentiation.
Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, constructive communication patterns and avoidant non-constructive communication patterns were able to predict marital commitment through self-differentiation. It can be said that a healthy relationship is important to run a family. The degree of differentiation and how women and husbands communicate to each other affects the development of relationships and marital satisfaction, as well as the extent of their commitment. High-level differentiation helps one's emotional and mental systems to function properly. In order to have a successful marriage and succeed in relationships, couples must use a constructive communication model and less of a mutual avoidance model. Differentiated individuals respond better to stress and life problems using constructive communication patterns. With proper thinking, they control emotions, but they allow human emotions and are skilled in human communication.
Type of Study: Original Research Article |
Subject:
Psychology
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