Nuclear Family Emotional Functioning and Marital Satisfaction: The Cultural Lens of Self-Construal

Abstract

The purpose was to investigate the mediating role of interrelational and self-developmental orientations (self-construals) in the relationships between nuclear family emotional functioning and marital satisfaction. Six hundred and eighteen married individuals completed Family Genogram Interview, Balanced Integration Differentiation Scale, Relationship Assessment Scale, and Demographic Information Form. Findings indicated that nuclear family emotional processes and self-construals explained 84% of the variance in marital satisfaction. Emotional contact was the strongest predictor, and the interrelational orientation partially mediated the relationships between emotional contact, symptoms in spouses, and marital satisfaction. Self-developmental orientation fully mediated the relationship between the focus on child and marital satisfaction.

Keywords:

• Marital satisfaction
• self-construal
• nuclear family emotional functioning
• differentiation of self

Disclosure statement

No conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Informed consent

“Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.”

This study is part of the first author’s PhD dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Sciences, Middle East Technical University under the supervision of the second author

This study was presented at 2020 International PEGEM Conference on Education (IPCEDU; September 16th 2020).