The Mediating Role of Self-Esteem and Emotion-Regulation in the Relationship between Early Maladaptive Schemas of Mothers and Mother-Daughter Conflicts

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between early maladaptive schemas of mothers and mother-daughter conflicts through self-esteem and emotion-regulation. The study's statistical population comprised all female high school students enrolled in a theoretical field in Tehran City, Iran in 2020 with their mothers. 315 students and their mothers were chosen as the sample size, and the sampling method was accessible. The students were asked to complete Conflict Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ) and their mothers were asked to complete Young Schema Questionnaire-Short Form (YSQ-SF) and Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale (SES) and Difficulties in Emotion- Regulation Scale (DERS). Path Analysis in Lisrel was used to analyze the data. The study's findings revealed strong connections between emotional deprivation, defectiveness/shame, and negativity/pessimism EMSs of mothers and mother-daughter conflicts. The indirect relationships of dependent/incompetence, insufficient self-control/self-discipline, and negativity/pessimism EMSs of mothers and mother-daughter conflicts through emotion-regulation was also significant. Furthermore, there were significant direct relationships between defectiveness/shame and dependence/incompetence EMSs and self-esteem, but there was no significant relationships between self-esteem and parent-adolescent conflict. This research revealed that mothers' early maladaptive schemas play a significant role in creating conflict between them and their teenagers. Also, it seems that low self-esteem in mothers can only cause a decrease in their relationship with their teenagers and cannot play a significant role in creating conflict between parents and teenage girls, these findings can helps in better explaining parent-adolescents conflicts and developing intervention protocols in family therapy.