Marital Satisfaction and Self-esteem: The Mediating Roles of Alexithymia and Communication Skills

Marriage, as one of the oldest links between humans and the origin of the family, nurtures human character; as a small natural group, it has been the focus of many researchers. Among all the important relationships in human life, marital relationship is one of the most important relationships for human well-being. A desirable marital relationship not only fulfills the need for connection but also is an intimate and reliable relationship which creates a deep sense of connection and belonging. The present study was conducted to investigate the relationship between self-esteem and marital satisfaction with the mediation of alexithymia and communication skills. The study’s method was of the correlational type and the statistical population was made up of all married students of Tehran universities who had been married for at least one year. Among the population, 212 students were voluntarily selected through the available sampling method. They filled out Enrich’s Marital Satisfaction Scale (EMS), Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale (SES), Toronto’s Alexithymia (TAS-20), and Queen Dam’s Communication Skills (CSTR). The data was analyzed using the structural equation modeling method (df/X2 = 1.62, CFI = 0.975, GFI = 0.966, and RMSEA = 0.054). The results showed that communication skills had a positive and significant effect and alexithymia had a negative and significant effect on marital satisfaction. Communication skills mediated the relationship between self-esteem and marital satisfaction positively. In addition, self-esteem with the mediation of alexithymia could positively affect marital satisfaction (P < 0.05). It showed that self-esteem had a positive and significant relationship with marital satisfaction. Considering that marital satisfaction is one of the most important determinants of the efficiency and health of the family, paying attention to the factors affecting it can consider the physical and mental health of people as family members.