Comparison of cognitive and emotional schema in women with and without marital satisfaction

Objectives: Various factors are effective in dissatisfaction and marital conflicts. Schemas play an important role in behavior and relationships. This study examined the role of cognitive and emotional schemes in women's marital satisfaction.

Methods: This study was a cross sectional research and the population consists of all married women 20-55 years old in Tehran. 100 women were selected using stratified random sampling in categories of housewives and employed and place of living and completed questionnaires. The assessment tools included The Young's early maladaptive Schema Short Form (YSQ-SF), Leahy Emotional Schemas (LESS) and Enrich Marital Satisfaction questionnaire. Women with and without marital satisfaction were separated based on t score obtained from the ENRICH questionnaire.

Results: Findings showed no significant differences in demographic data for women with and without marital satisfaction (P <0.05). Results of independent t test and Mann-Whitney showed that women with and without marital satisfaction are different in all schemas except schemas of sacrifice and unrelenting standards and schemas of control, blame, comprehensibility, acceptance of feelings, consensus, validation and higher values of emotional schemas (P <0.05).The regression analysis showed Abandonment schema and unrelenting standards schema and schema of guilt and validation of emotional schemas can predict marital satisfaction (P <0.05).And schemas guilt , blame, emotional deprivation and unrelenting standards simultaneously correlated with marital satisfaction (P <0.05).

Conclusion: The formation and development of cognitive and emotional schemas during life can influence various aspects of married life. So that these schemas have an important role in evaluation of emotional partner and attitude toward them.