The Role of Early Maladaptive Schemas (Emotional Deprivation, Abandonment/Instability, and Mistrust/Abuse) in Marital Commitment: The Mediating Role of Gender Roles

This study was conducted with the aim of examining the structural equation model of predicting marital commitment based on the early maladaptive schemas of emotional deprivation, abandonment/instability, and mistrust/abuse mediated by the gender roles.

The present research was a correlational study using the path analysis method. A total of 300 married employees (132 females and 168 males) were selected by the convenience sampling method. Data were collected using the Dimensions of Commitment Inventory (DCI), Young Schema Questionnaire-Short Form (SQ-SF), and Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI). The path analysis analysis was conducted to examine the proposed model using LISREL software.

The results indicated that the hypothesized model had a good fit with the observed data. The findings showed that emotional deprivation schema is negativly correlated with marital commitment. Moreover, the gender roles of masculinity and femininity are positivly correlated with marital commitment. The path analysis showed that the relation between emotional deprivation schema and marital commitment is mediated by both gender roles. In addiction, the relations between abandonment/instability and mistrust/abuse schemas and marital commitment are mediated by the gender role of masculinity. According to the findings of this research, designing interventions aimed at increasing people's awareness of their maladaptive schemas and modifing them in counseling and psychotherapy processes can be helpful in solving couples' problems