مجله علوم روانشناختی (Jun 2024)

Modeling emotional abuse based on emotional maturity and self-differentiation with the mediating role of marital intimacy

  • mehran sharifi,
  • qumarth karimi,
  • omid moradi,
  • shokooh navabinejad

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 23, no. 136
pp. 873 – 890

Abstract

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Background: Emotional abuse is a type of interpersonal violence that causes the loss of intimacy and the separation of couples. Lack of marital intimacy along with low emotional maturity will increase the desire for emotional abuse between couples. Factors affecting emotional abuse have been investigated in previous studies, but no study was found that investigated emotional abuse based on emotional maturity and its differentiation with the mediating role of marital intimacy in the researched society. Aims: The aim of the present study was to determine the pattern of structural relationships of emotional abuse based on emotional maturity and self-differentiation with the mediation role of marital intimacy. Methods: The method of the current research was descriptive, of the type of structural equations. The statistical population of the research included all the couples who referred to counseling centers in Sanandaj in 2022, from which 222 people were selected through available sampling. The instruments used in the research included emotional abuse (Barahimi, 2008), emotional maturity Yashopersing and (Bahargava, 1991), self-differentiation (Skowron and Friedlander, 1998) and marital intimacy (Asoudeh and Timouri, 2017). Data analysis was analyzed using Pearson correlation method, structural equation modeling and partial least squares (SMARTPLS-3) algorithm and SPSS-23. Results: The results indicated the fit of the general research model with the experimental data. The findings showed that emotional maturity, self-differentiation and marital intimacy can directly predict emotional abuse (P< 0.001). Also, the indirect effect of emotional maturity (P= 0.001) and self-differentiation (P< 0.001) with the mediation of marital intimacy on emotional abuse was significant. Conclusion: According to the findings obtained in the current research that low emotional maturity and self-differentiation in the long term causes a decrease in marital intimacy, and this eventually causes emotional harm and the occurrence of marital conflict among couples; Therefore, it is suggested to use methods of teaching emotional maturity and marital intimacy to reduce emotional abuse, and counseling and psychotherapy centers should pay more attention to these variables in predicting emotional abuse of couples.

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