Development of a Marital Adjustment Model based on Psychological Security, Personality Traits, and Attachment Styles: the Mediating Role of the Psychological Growth

The aim of this study was to develop an effective model of marital commitment and determine the effectiveness of a model-based educational program on marital satisfaction of couples.

The present study was a correlational and quasi-experimental study with a pre-test and post-test design with a quarterly control and follow-up group. The statistical population was 746 married people referring to counseling centers in Tehran in 1397 based on Sample Power 350 software (196 females and 154 married males) were randomly selected; Also, in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the educational program based on the pattern, 10 couples were selected from the couples who obtained low scores in Enrich (1989) marital satisfaction and were randomly assigned to two experimental groups (5 couples) and control (5 couples). The research instruments were Adam and Jones (1997) Marital Commitment Questionnaire, Idelson (1982) Marital Communication Beliefs, Emotional Conflict and Criticism in the Shields Family (1994) and Bagarozi Intimacy (2001). The experimental group participated in 10 sessions of marital commitment training program for 10 sessions of 120 minutes. Both groups responded to the Enrich Marital Satisfaction Questionnaire in three stages. Structural equations and repeated measures analysis of variance were used to analyze the data.

The results showed a significant difference between the performance of the two groups in marital satisfaction (F = 35.48, P = 0.001) in the post-test stage and after three months of follow-up.

Considering the effect that the commitment model has on marital satisfaction; It is recommended that psychologists and counselors use this educational method to improve interaction and teach couples how to communicate and increase couples' cohesion. Keywords: Marital commitment, Marital satisfaction, Couples.