Developing a structural model of the quality of the main family and the tendency to infidelity between spouses through the mediation of self-differentiation

Many studies emphasize the impact of child-parenting relationships and family interactions on future compromises, including commitment after marriage. Meanwhile, the development of the concept of self-differentiation within the family, which means emotional regulation and anxiety management, can affect the relationship between spouses. However, the relationship between these variables in a structural model has not been studied in research.

The purpose of this study was to develop a structural model of the quality of the main family and the tendency to infidelity the through the mediation of self-differentiation.

This was a correlational study and the statistical population of the study included all married people in Tehran city at 1999 year. The sample consisted of 349 people who were selected by random sampling method. Research instruments included the Stout et al.'s Family Quality Scale (1985), the Scorne and Friedlander Self-Differentiation Scale (1989), and the Mark Watley (2006) Infidelity Scale, which were completed by participants. Also, in order to investigate the relationships between variables, the method of structural equations, correlation test between variables and bootstrap test were used.

Evaluation of the hypothetical model of the research showed that the hypothetical model fits with the measurement model (CFI = 0.98, IFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.056). Also, the quality of the main family is not directly related to the tendency to breach of contract (0.03) and indirectly affects tendency to infidelity through self-differentiation (0.20). In other words, self-differentiation plays a mediating role in the relationship between the quality of the main family and tendency to infidelity (-0.24).

Poor family quality, which leads to low levels of differentiation in individuals, is likely to lead to tendency to infidelity in the next life with the spouse. More research is needed to improve the quality of parenting relationships.