The mediation role of love stories in regards to early maladaptive schemas and marital satisfaction

Marital satisfaction is necessary for a successful and productive family life and is regarded as one of the determiner factors of a healthy society that will lead to a better next generation. The aim of the present study is to examine the mediating role of love stories in regards to early maladaptive schemas and marital satisfaction. The statistical population of this study was the married population in Arak city. For this purpose 210 couples were selected via available sampling. These couples answered to the Young Schema Questionnaire-short Form (YSQ-SF), the ENRICH’s marital satisfaction questionnaire, and the Love Stories Scale (LSS). The results showed that the early maladaptive schemas have a negative and significant correlation with marital satisfaction. In addition, the results of the path analysis indicated that the genre stories (war, theater, and mystery) have a mediating role in regards to early maladaptive schemas and marital satisfaction and early maladaptive schemas have an indirect effect on marital satisfaction through love stories. It seems that both early maladaptive schemas and love stories are the internal criteria in selecting a spouse and is considered as an important factor in marital satisfaction. Thus, it is important to consider the role of early maladaptive schemas and love stories in assessing and also beginning treatments for low marital satisfaction.