A structural equation modeling on the relation among middle schoolstudents' early maladaptive schemas and life satisfaction and parents'early maladaptive schemas, parenting styles, and marital adjustment

The purpose of the present study is to examine parenting styles, parents' early maladaptive schemas, and marital adjustment as the predictors of early maladaptive schemas and life satisfaction of middle school students. In the study, two hypothetical models were established regarding the extent to which parents' marital adjustment, early maladaptive schemas and parenting styles predict middle school students' early maladaptive schemas and middle school students' early maladaptive schemas predict their life satisfaction. The participant group of the study consists of students, being educated during 2021-2022 academic term in the middle schools affiliated to the Directorate of National Education, and their parents. For the hypothetical model constructed for mother, 477 and for the hypothetical model constructed for father, 403 data were collected. To be able to collect data from parents, "Demographic Feature Form- For Parents", "Marital Adjustment Scale" and "Young Schema Scale- Short version" were utilized as the data collection tools. In order to collect data from the students, "Schema Scale for Children", "Young Parenting Scale- Mother and Father Adolescent Form", and "Multidimensional Life Satisfaction Scale" were applied. Within the scope of the study, "Schema Scale for Children" was adapted to Turkish language while "Young Parenting Scale- Mother and Father Adolescent Form" was adapted for middle school students from the Turkish adaptation of "Young Parenting Scale" for adults. For the data analysis structural equation modelling was adopted. Findings revealed that parents'marital adjustment and parenting styles positively predicted the early maladaptive schemas of children with significance. When it comes to the life satisfaction of the children, it was found to be negatively predicted by their early maladaptive schemas with significance. However, parents' early maladaptive schemas did not predict the early maladaptive schemas of their children with significance. The findings of the study were discussed in line with the related literature and implications were presented for the practices and further studies.