The mediation role of early maladaptive schemes in the relationship of father involvement with emotion regulation and interpersonal problems

Fatherhood has undergone great transformations in the historical process. One of these transformations has happened recently, and fatherhood has begun to break away from traditional role definitions. According to the new understanding, fathers are also expected to share responsibilities for their children with the mother and to participate more in childcare. This change in the father's role has attracted the attention of researchers, and studies have begun to understand the father's role in the child's developmental areas. Thus, studies on parenting were not limited to only the mother, but also fatherhood was included in the studies. As a result of these studies, it was observed that the child benefited from the participation of both parents. The aim of this study is to examine the mediating role of early maladaptive schemas in the relation of perceived paternal involvement with emotion regulation styles and interpersonal problems of undergraduate and postgraduate students. Determining the relationship of father involvement with sociodemographic variables and determining the role of maternal involvement in its relationship with the variables of the study are also among the aims of the study. The sample of the study consists of 317 participants between the ages of 18-38 according to undergraduate and postgraduate education. Demographic information form, Father Involvement Scale, Mother Involvement Scale, Cognitive Emotion Regulation Scale, Inventory of Interpersonal Problems-Circumplex Scales Short Form and Young Schema Scale Short Form-3 were used to collect information from the participants. As a result of the mediation analysis, it was observed that early maladaptive schema areas mediated the relationship of perceived father involvement with cognitive emotion regulation strategies and interpersonal problems. Hierarchical regression analysis and mediation analysis were applied to determine the role of maternal involvement in the relationship of father involvement with the variables of the study. As a result of hierarchical regression analysis, paternal involvement predicts catastrophizing from cognitive emotion regulation strategies and disconnection from early maladaptive schema domains when mother involvement is controlled; As a result of mediation analysis, it was observed that maternal participation fully mediated in the relationship between paternal involvement and some variables of the study. Analysis findings are discussed in the light of the literature. Keywords: father involvement, early maladaptive schemas, emotion regulation, interpersonal problems.