The Role of Attachment to God and Relational Ethics in Predicting the Experience of Anxiety in Married Women in Shahrood County

Mental health of housewives, especially their anxiety problems, are one of the neglected priorities in recent years that require serious attention of health policy makers. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the role of attachment to God and relational ethics in predicting the experience of anxiety in married women.

The present study is descriptive-correlational. The statistical population included all married women in Shahrood County in 2019. The sample size consisted of 380 women, who were selected by available sampling method, and answered the Anxiety Scale, Relational Ethics Scale and Attachment to God scale. Pearson correlation coefficient and hierarchical multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data. In this study, all ethical considerations were taken into account and the authors reported no conflict of interests.

The results showed that the mean age of women was 41.89 years. The highest and lowest levels of education with 65% and 15% were related to secondary education and university education, respectively. There was a negative correlation between relational ethics (P<0.05, r=-0.57), vertical (P<0.05, r=-0.39) and horizontal ethics (P<0.05, r=-0.43) with anxiety, and a negative and significant correlation between attachment to God (P<0.05, r=-0.68), and its dimensions with anxiety. Regression analysis showed that relational ethics explained 23%, relational ethics and attachment to God together explained 33%, and attachment to God alone accounted for 10% of the variance in anxiety. The dimensions of attachment to God were also able to predict 12% of the variance in anxiety. Among the dimensions of attachment, relationship with God (β=-0.38) was the strongest predictor of anxiety.

Considering the role of the mentioned research variables in predicting married women's experience of anxiety, the results of this study can be used in anxiety prevention and treatment programs as effective variables.