The role of cognitive avoidance and emotional expression in predicting marital conflict in women in Tehran

Marital conflicts have a profoundly negative effect on the couplechr('39')s relationships and, consequently, on the context and family relationships. Therefore, the present study seeks to answer the question of whether cognitive avoidance and emotional expression are able to predict marital conflict?

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of cognitive avoidance and emotional expression in predicting marital conflict.

The method of this research was descriptive-correlational. The research population included all women in Tehran in July, August and September of 2019, and 324 women referred to the neighborhoods located in 1, 2 and 3 areas were selected as the sample by the convenience sampling method. In order to collect the data, the marital conflict scale of Sanaee Zaker and Barati (2008), the cognitive avoidance scale of Sexton and Dugas (2008) and the emotional expression scale of King and Emmons (1990) were used. Pearson correlation test and multiple linear regression analysis were used to analyze the data.

The findings showed cognitive avoidance and emotional expression are significantly correlated with marital conflict (P< 0/05) and predict 64% of the variance of marital conflicts (P< 0/05).

According to the findings of this study, it is necessary to pay attention to informing people about cognitive avoidance and emotional expression. The findings of this study can be used in order to develop and implement educational and treatment programs in order to reduce the level of marital conflicts.