The Mediating Role of Self-Differentiation and Cognitive Emotion Regulation in the Relationship between the Quality of Object Relationships and Pattern of Close Relationship Experience in Couples

The need to establish intimacy and close relationships with others is considered as a basic and important human motivation. The present study aimed to investigate the role of the quality of object relationships on close relationship experience mediated by the self-differentiation and cognitive emotion regulation.

Methods and Materials:

 The study was a descriptive-correlational one conducted using Structural Equation Modeling. The population included all people who were married for at least two years and visited psychological and counseling clinics in Mashhad, Iran, from 2020 to 21 due to suffering from matrimonial conflicts. The participants were selected using the convenience sampling technique. Then, 300 questionnaires were distributed among the participants, and 260 questionnaires were gathered. The instruments for data collection included Bell’s Object Relations and Reality Testing Inventory, the cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire, the questionnaire concerning the self-differentiation, and close relationship experience questionnaire. The data were analyzed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient and the structural equation modeling.

The findings showed that the quality of object relationships predicted the rates of close relationship experience (P>0/05). Moreover, the findings showed that the differential of self and negative cognitive emotion regulation played mediatory roles (P>0/05).

Accordingly, both in premarital counseling and in couple therapy sessions, it is vital to determine variables based on psychoanalytic concepts like the quality of object relationships and self-differentiation and adjust interventions based on these concepts.