The Relationship Between Irrational Beliefs and the Marital Satisfaction Based on the Mediating Role of the Conflict Resolution Behavior and the Marital Stress

Abstract

Objective: The current study was designed to explain the causal relationship between irrational beliefs and marital satisfaction based on the mediating role of conflict resolution behavior and marital stress. Methods: The research had a descriptive-correlational design, and the study’s statistical population consisted of all married men and women living in Tehran City, Iran, in 2019. Of whom, 933 people were selected based on the available method. The research instruments consisted of the first version of the Jones irrational beliefs questionnaire, the conflict tactics scales (Straus, 1979), the Stockholm female marital stress scale, and the marital satisfaction questionnaire. Results: The present study’s data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results of the present study revealed that all fit indexes of the structural equation modeling analysis supported the goodness fit of the structural model of the collected data (χ2/df=2.82, comparative fit index [CFI]= 0.947, goodness-of-fit index (GFI)=0.946, adjusted goodness-of-fit index [AGFI]= 0.910, root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA]=0.072). In the present study, the indirect path coefficient between irrational beliefs and marital satisfaction through conflict behavior (β=-0.071, P<0.05) and the path coefficient of both through marital stress (β=-0.127, P<0.01) was negative and significant, respectively at the levels of 0.05 and 0.01. Conclusion: Both variables of conflict behavior and marital stress negatively and significantly mediated the relationship between irrational beliefs and marital satisfaction.