Relationship Beliefs and Communication Skills in Turkish Married Individuals: Examining the Mediating Role of Partner Accommodation Behavior and Emotional Dependency

Abstract

In this study, the mediating role of partner accommodation behavior and emotional dependency in the relationship between relationship beliefs and communication skills was investigated. The study was carried out with 400 married participants. The results of the multiple analysis revealed that relationship belief, emotional dependency, and partner accommodation behavior had an 11.20% variance in communication skills. Relationship belief was associated with lower partner accommodation behavior and greater emotional dependency. Further analysis revealed that communication skills were significantly predicted by partner accommodation behavior but not predicted by emotional dependency. Additionally, the indirect effect of relationship belief on communication skills through partner accommodation behavior was significant. As a result, it has been achieved that partner accommodation behavior has a partial mediating role between the relationship beliefs and communication skills of married individuals. Possible explanations and the implications and limitations of the study were discussed.

Keywords

relationship belief partner accommodation behavior emotional dependency communication skills multiple mediation model

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Arnett

J. J.

(2004). Emerging adulthood: The winding road from the late teens through the twenties. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199929382.001.0001.

Beck

J. S.

(1995). Cognitive therapy: Basics and beyond. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Buunk

(1981). Jealousy in sexually open marriages. Alternative Lifestyles, 4, 357–372. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01257944.

Campbell

Wright

D. W.

(2010). Marriage today: Exploring the incongruence between Americans’ beliefs and practices. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 41(3), 329–345. https://doi.org/10.3138/jcfs.41.3.329.

Cherlin

A. J.

(2004). The deinstitutionalization of American marriage. Journal of Marriage and Family, 66(4), 848–861. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-2445.2004.00058.x.

Christensen

E. J.

(2014). Young adults’ marital attitudes and intentions: The role of parental conflict, divorce and gender (doctoral dissertation). Fort Collins, CO: Colorado State University.

Çırakoğlu

O. C.

Tezer

(2010). The predictive role of locus of control and critical thinking on reactions to relationship dissatisfactions of university students. Turkish Psychological Articles, 13(26), 29–41.

Connell

R. W.

(1998). Masculinities and globalization. Men and Masculinities, 1(1), 3–23. https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184X98001001001.

Coulson

N. S.

Smedley

Bostock

Kyle

S. D.

Gollancz

Luik

A. I.

Hames

Espie

C. A.

(2016). The pros and cons of getting engaged in an online social community embedded within digital cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia: Survey among users. Journal of medical Internet research, 18(4), e88. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.5654.

10.

Dattilio

K. M.

Padesky

C. A.

(1990). Cognitive therapy with couples. Sarasota, FL: Professional Research Exchange Inc.

11.

Davis

S. N.

Greenstein

T. N.

(2009). Gender ideology, components, predictors and consequences. Annual Review of Sociology, 35(1), 87–105. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-070308-115920.

12.

Delevi

Bugay

(2010). Understanding change in romantic relationship expectations of international female students from Turkey. Contemporary Family Therapy, 32, 257–272. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10591-010-9124-4.

13.

Dryden

(2003). ‘The cream cake made me eat it’: An introduction to the ABC theory of REBT. In Dryden

(Ed.), Rational-emotive behavior therapy: Theoretical developments (1st ed., pp. 1–21). New York, NY: Brunner-Routledge.

14.

Duran

Ş.

Hamamcı

(2010). The investigation of effects of premarital relationships enhancement program on conflict communication style and communication skills of university students with romantic relationship. Sosyal Politika Çalışmaları Dergisi, 23(23), 87–100.

15.

Ellis

Dryden

(1997). The practice of rational emotive behavior therapy (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Springer.

16.

Ersanlı

Balcı

(1998). Developing a communication skill inventory: Its validity and reliability. Türk Psikolojik Danışma Ve Rehberlik Dergisi, 2(10), 7–12.

17.

Estévez

Chávez-Vera

M. D.

Momeñe

Olave

Vázquez

Iruarrizaga

(2018). The role of emotional dependence in the relationship between attachment and impulsive behavior. Anales de Psicología, 34(3), 438–445. https://doi.org/10.6018/analesps.34.3.313681.

18.

Filipovic

Vukosavljevic Gvozden

Opacic

(2016). Irrational beliefs, dysfunctional emotions and marital adjustment: a structural model. Journal of Family Issues, 37(16), 2333–2350. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X15572384.

19.

Finkel

E. J.

Campbell

W. K.

(2001). Self-control and accommodation in close relationships: An interdependence analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 263–277. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.81.2.263.

20.

Flett

G. L.

Hewitt

P. L.

Cheng

W. M. W.

(2008). Perfectionism, distress, and irrational beliefs in high school students: Analyses with an abbreviated survey of personal beliefs for adolescents. Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 26(3), 194–205. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-007-0066-1.

21.

Gerber

G. L.

(1991). Gender stereotypes and power: Perceptions of the roles in violent marriages. Sex Roles, 24(7–8), 439–458. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00289333.

22.

Gottman

J. M.

Notarius

C. I.

(2000). Decade review: Observing marital interaction. Journal of Marriage and Family, 62(4), 927–947. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2000.00927.x.

23.

Hall

S. S.

(2006). Marital meaning: Exploring young adults’ belief systems about marriage. Journal of Family Issues, 27(10), 1437–1458. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X06290036.

24.

Hayes

A. F.

(2018). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis (2nd Ed.). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

25.

Hill

T. L.

(2001). The good marriage revisited (Unpublished master’s thesis). Wisconsin, WI: University of Wisconsin.

26.

İmamoğlu

E. O.

(2003). Individuation and relatedness: Not opposing, but distinct and complementary. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 129, 367–402.

27.

Jent

G. A.

(2012). Improving communication in marriage. Retrieved from http://www.ttgst.ac.kr/upload/ttgst_resources13/20124-200.pdf.

28.

Kağıtçıbaşı

Ç.

(2012). Self, family and human development: Cultural psychology (3rd Ed.). İstanbul, Turkey: Koç University Publications.

29.

Kalkan

(2006). Developing the belief inventory in relationships: A validity and reliability study. Turkish Journal of Psychological Counseling and Guidance, 3(25), 45–54.

30.

Karakurt

(2001). The impact of adult attachment styles on romantic jealousy (Unpublished Master’s thesis). Ankara, Turkey: Midde East Technical University.

31.

Kay

N. M.

(2012). The changing meaning of marriage: An analysis of contemporary marital attitudes of young adults (unpublished master’s thesis). Provo, UT: Brigham Young University.

32.

Kemer

Çetinkaya Yıldız

Bulgan

(2016). Emotional dependency and dysfunctional relationship beliefs as predictors of married Turkish individuals’ relationship satisfaction. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 19, E72. https://doi.org/10.1017/sjp.2016.78.

33.

Kilpatrick

S. D.

Bissonnette

V. L.

Rusbult

C. E.

(2002). Empathic accuracy and accommodative behavior among newly married couples. Personal Relationships, 9(4), 369–393. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6811.09402.

34.

Larsen

A. S.

Olson

D. H.

(1989). Predicting marital satisfaction using prepare: A replication study. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 15(3), 311–322. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-0606.1989.tb00812.x.

35.

Larson

J. H.

Holman

T. B.

(1994). Premarital predictors of marital quality and stability. Family Relations, 43(2), 228–237. https://doi.org/10.2307/585327.

36.

Lemos

Vasquez

A. M.

Roman Calderon

J. P.

(2019). Potential therapeutic targets in people with emotional dependency. International Journal of Psychological Research, 12(1), 18–27. https://doi.org/10.21500/20112084.3627.

37.

Mesquita

(2001). Culture and emotion: Different approaches to the question. In Mayne

T. J.

Bonanno

G. A.

(Eds.), Emotions: Current issues and future directions (pp. 214–250). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

38.

Metis

Cupach

W. R.

(1990). The influence of relationship beliefs and problem-solving responses on satisfaction in romantic relationships. Human Communication Research, 17(1), 170–185. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.1990.tb00230.x.

39.

Möller

A. T.

De Beer

Z. C.

(1998). Irrational beliefs and marital conflict. Psychological Reports, 82(1), 155–160. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1998.82.1.155.

40.

Özgüven

H. D.

Sayıl

(1999). The problem and psychiatric diagnosis of the cases who applied to crisis intervention centre of Ankara University. Kriz Dergisi, 7, 7–3.

41.

Ponce-Díaz

Tello

J. A.

Heros

M. A. d. l.

(2019). Emotional dependence, life satisfaction and partner violence in university students. Propósitos Y Representaciones, 8(1), e351. https://doi.org/10.20511/pyr2019.v7nSPE.351.

42.

Preacher

K. J.

Hayes

A. F.

(2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40(3), 879–891. https://doi.org/10.3758/BRM.40.3.879.

43.

Rusbult

C. E.

Johnson

D. J.

Morrow

G. D.

(1986). Impact of couple patterns of problem solving on distress and non-distress in dating relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50(4), 744–753. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.50.4.744.

44.

Rusbult

C. E.

Verette

Whitney

G. A.

Slovik

L. F.

Lipkus

(1991). Accommodation processes in close relationships: Theory and preliminary empirical evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60(1), 53–78. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.60.1.53.

45.

Rusbult

C. E.

Zembrodt

I. M.

(1983). Responses to dissatisfaction in romantic involvements: A multidimensional scaling analysis. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 19(3), 274–293. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1031(83)90042-2.

46.

Taluy

(2018). The responses to dissatisfaction in close relationships-accommodation instrument: A validity and reliability testing study. Studies in Psychology, 38(1), 33–51. https://doi.org/10.26650/SP399410.

47.

Tavakolizadeh

Nejatian

Soori

(2015). The effectiveness of communication skills training on marital conflicts and its different aspects in women. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 171, 214–221. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.01.112.

48.

Thobejane

T. D.

Khoza

(2014). Gender role expectations within the institution of marriage. Journal of Social Sciences, 41(3), 455–459. https://doi.org/10.1080/09718923.2014.11893380.

49.

Willoughby

B. J.

(2010). Marital attitude trajectories across adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 39, 1305–1317. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-009-9477-x.

50.

Willoughby

B. J.

Hall

S. S.

Luczak

H. P.

(2015). Marital paradigms: A conceptual framework for marital attitudes, values, and beliefs. Journal of Family Issues, 36(2), 188–211. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X13487677.

51.

Yıldırım

Şimşek

(2013). Sosyal bilimlerde nitel araştırma yöntemleri [qualitative research in social sciences]. İstanbul, Turkey. Seçkin Yayıncılık.