The Mediating role of Psychological Cohesion in the Relationship between Psychological Suffering and Spiritual Adjustment to Marital Turmoil in Mothers of Children with Autism

The aim of this study was to mediate the role of psychological cohesion in the relationship between psychological suffering and spiritual adjustment to marital distress in mothers of children with autism.

The research method is cross-sectional correlation. The statistical population of this study was all mothers of children with autism in Tehran in 1399, from which 457 people were selected by convenience sampling. In this study, the tools of marital turmoil, spiritual adjustment, psychological suffering and psychological cohesion were used, all of which had acceptable validity and reliability. SPSS-V23 and Lisrel-V7.8 software were used to analyze the data. Structural equation modeling was used to answer the research hypotheses. Findings showed that the model has a good fit. The results showed that there is a relationship between psychological suffering and marital turmoil in mothers of children with autism spectrum disorders. There is a relationship between spiritual adjustment and marital turmoil in mothers of children with autism spectrum disorders. There is a relationship between psychological cohesion and marital turmoil in mothers of children with autism spectrum disorders. There is an indirect effect of psychological suffering through the mediating role of psychological cohesion with marital disturbance in mothers of children with autism spectrum (p <0.05). Spiritual adjustment through the mediating role of psychological cohesion with marital turmoil has an indirect effect on mothers of children with autism spectrum (p <0.05).

The results also showed that the indirect effect of psychological suffering and spiritual adjustment on the marital turmoil of mothers of children with autism due to psychological cohesion was confirmed with 95% confidence.

The results of this study showed that mothers of children with autism spectrum disorders face many problems and sufferings in all areas of their lives. These problems start from the beginning of the diagnosis process and cause marital turmoil, thus increasing the spiritual health of these mothers. It also increases their psychological cohesion.