The structural relationship of communication beliefs and marital commitment: The mediating role of communication patterns

This study aimed to investigate the structural relationship between communication beliefs and marital commitment of couples mediated by their communication patterns.

The statistical population of this study comprised all married students with more than 3 years of marital life of Islamic Azad University of Mashhad in the academic year 2019-2020. Through multi-stage cluster randomized sampling method, 300 students were selected and fulfilled Adams and Jones Marital Commitment Questionnaire (1997), Eidelson and Epstein Relationship Beliefs Inventory (1981), and Communication Patterns Questionnaire (1984) were employed. Data were analyzed using structural equations and SPSS-25 and AMOS-24 software.

The proposed conceptual model has a good fit. The direct effect of communication beliefs on communication patterns is significant and positive (p < /em>≤ 0.01, g= 0.66) and on marital commitment is significant and negative (p < /em>≤ 0.05, g= -0.47). The direct effect of communication patterns on marital commitment is also significant and negative (p < /em>≤ 0.05, ß= -0.67). Study of standardized coefficients of indirect effects indicated that the indirect effect of communication beliefs on marital commitment (-0.45) is significant (p < /em><0.01, IF= -0.45). The explained variance of marital commitment in terms of communication beliefs and communication patterns was equal to 0.56.

According to the research findings, communication patterns are used as a mediating variable in the relationship between communication beliefs and marital commitment, and two variables of communication patterns and communication beliefs are able to predict marital commitment.