The role of cognitive emotion regulation strategies in marital adjustment as mediated by lifestyle

Research background shows the crucial role of emotion regulation strategies in couples' adjustment. Furthermore, lifestyle can influence the relationship between factors that affect couples' adjustment. Studying the structural relationships between these factors in reconciling couples' infidelity and exploring lifestyle as a mediating factor can enrich this research area.

The aim of this study is to investigate the role of cognitive emotion regulation strategies in the context of marital adjustment as mediated by lifestyle.

The research method is descriptive-correlation. The statistical population includes all married clients in counseling centers in Tehran during the first six months of 2021. By applying the rule of tens for each measured variable, the sample size was determined to be 247 participants. Multi-stage cluster sampling was selected using the random sampling method. Modified paired adjustment questionnaire, Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) and Lifestyle Questionnaire (LSQ) were used to collect data. Data analysis was performed through descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling by maximum likelihood estimation.

The results show that there is a direct relationship between adaptive strategies (p= 0.001, β= 0.47) and non-adaptive strategies (p= 0.004, β= 0.24) and lifestyle. There is an indirect relationship between adaptive strategies (p= 0.012, β= 0.226) and non-adaptive strategies (p= 0.027, β = -0.117) and marital adjustment. The research model is consistent with the collected data (RMSEA= 0.052, CFI= 0.959).

Cognitive emotion regulation and lifestyle are key factors in predicting marital adjustment. Therefore, it is vital to consider how these variables play a part in increasing marital adjustment.