An Investigation and Analysis of the Role of Initial Maladaptive Schemas and Negative Perfectionism in Predicting Emotional Divorce among Couples

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the early maladaptive schemas and negative perfectionism and the prediction of emotional divorce. It is a descriptive-correlational research work and enquiries were of prediction type. A group of 80 couples living in Bushehr, Iran were selected as the sample using the simple random sampling method. The data collection instruments were the Hil et al. Perfectionism Scale (2004), the Young Short Initial Maladaptive Schemas Questionnaire, and the Gottman Emotional Divorce Questionnaire (1995). The findings revealed that negative perfectionism and early maladaptive schemas have a significant effect on emotional divorce (F (2.77) = 30.75, p < 0.001). This pattern explains 44 percent of the variance of couples' emotional divorce. Also, the results showed that the effect of negative perfectionism components on emotional divorce was significant (F (4.75) = 10.94, p < 0.001). This pattern explains 33.5 percent of the variance of couples' emotional divorce. The linear relationship between the negative perfectionism variable and the rate of tendencies and predictive power of emotional divorce was confirmed, and it was found that this relationship is direct, that is, with an increase in the dimensions of negative perfectionism, emotional divorce among couples increases (p < 0.001)