Predictors of university students' self-sabotage in romantic relationships

Within the scope of this research, university students self-sabotage in their romantic relationships; It is aimed to obtain information about the predictors of the variables of differentiation of self, parental emotional availability, irrational relationship beliefs and difficulty in emotion regulation. For this purpose, a study consisting of two steps was carried out. In the first stage, the 'Romantic Relationship Self-Sabotage Scale' was adapted into Turkish and validity-reliability studies of the tool were conducted. In the second stage, a study was conducted to examine the relationships between the variables and the prediction of the independent variables on the dependent variable. The research was carried out with a total of 793 university students, who were reached by convenient sampling method during the process of scale adaptation in the first study (N = 266) and examining the relationship between variables in the second study (N = 527). As a data collection tool in the research; Self-Sabotage in Romantic Relationship Scale, Parental Emotional Availability Scale, Differentiation of Self Scale Short Form, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, Irrational Relationship Beliefs Scale and Personal Information Form were used. In data analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, validity and reliability tests were performed to determine the construct validity of the Self-Sabotage in Romantic Relationship Scale. In the process of determining the relationships between the variables of the research, Pearson correlation coefficient, ANOVA analysis, and stepwise method of multiple regression analysis were applied. It was observed that a reliable and valid measurement was made with the 'Romantic Relationship Self-Sabotage Scale' adapted within the scope of the research. It was determined that the variables of irrational beliefs in the romantic relationship, difficulties in emotional regulation, differentiation of the self, and father emotional availability explained 27.8% of the total variance in the self-sabotage score in the romantic relationship. It was found that the maternal emotional availability variable was not a significant predictor. The research findings were discussed in the light of the literature and suggestions were made for researchers and psychological counselors based on these findings.