The Role of Attachment Styles and Early Maladaptive Schemas in Predicting Marital Commitment among Married Female Students of Islamic Azad University, Shahr-e Qods Branch
Keywords:
Attachment styles, Early maladaptive schemas, Marital commitmentAbstract
Objective: The present study aimed to determine the role of attachment styles and early maladaptive schemas in predicting marital commitment among married female students.
Methods and Materials: This descriptive-correlational study employed a predictive research design. The statistical population consisted of all married female students of Islamic Azad University, Shahr-e Qods Branch, during the 2024–2025 academic year. A total of 357 participants were selected through convenience sampling. Data were collected using the Attachment Styles Questionnaire (Hazan & Shaver, 1987), the Short Form of the Young Schema Questionnaire (Young, 1998), and the Marital Commitment Questionnaire (Adams & Jones, 1997). Pearson correlation coefficients and multiple regression analyses were used to analyze the data.
Findings: The findings indicated that secure attachment style was positively and significantly associated with marital commitment and its dimensions, whereas avoidant and anxious-ambivalent attachment styles demonstrated significant negative relationships with marital commitment (p < .001). Furthermore, all five domains of early maladaptive schemas, including disconnection/rejection, impaired autonomy and performance, impaired limits, other-directedness, and overvigilance/inhibition, were negatively related to marital commitment. Multiple regression analysis revealed that disconnection/rejection schema, secure attachment style, anxious-ambivalent attachment style, impaired autonomy and performance schema, and avoidant attachment style jointly explained 39.5% of the variance in marital commitment (R² = .395, p < .001). Among these predictors, the disconnection/rejection schema (β = −.422) had the strongest predictive power, followed by secure attachment style (β = .231).
Conclusion: Attachment styles and early maladaptive schemas are important psychological determinants of marital commitment among married female students. Interventions aimed at strengthening secure attachment and reducing maladaptive schemas, particularly disconnection/rejection and impaired autonomy/performance schemas, may contribute substantially to enhancing marital commitment and improving marital relationship quality.
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