Comparison of Early Maladaptive Schemas and Parenting Styles among Woman Who Committed Infidelity and Women Who Have Been Victims of Infidelity

The purpose of this study is to compare early maladaptive schemas and parenting styles in women who have committed infidelity and those who have been victims of infidelity. This study is both descriptive and random-comparative in nature. The participants consists of women who live in twenty-two areas of Tehran and have committed infidelity or have been victims of infidelity during the period during 2019-2020. An available sample was used including 61 participating women and 57 victimized women. Data were collected using the Young Schema Questionnaire Short Form (YSQ-SF3) and Young Parenting Inventory (YPI) and analyzed using an independent t-test and SPSS 23 software. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the early maladaptive schemas in two groups (d=0/66). Perpetrators of infidelity had significantly higher levels of emotional deprivation, abandonment/ instability, distrust/ abuse, entitlement/ grandiosity, inadequate self-control/ self-discipline, and approval/ recognition-seeking, while the violated women had higher scores in the defectiveness/ shame schema. In addition, there was a significant difference in parenting style scores between the two groups (d= 2/07) and women who had committed infidelity reported higher scores in the schemas of emotional deprivation, abandonment/ instability, distrust/ abuse, dependency, defectiveness/ shame, relentless standards/ hypercriticism, entitlement/ grandiosity, negativity/ pessimism, emotional inhibition, and approval/ recognition seeking. It can be said that the way parents interact with their children can shape schemas in the child and provide a foundation for their sincere behavior and adherence to principles in adulthood.