Examining the relationships between childhood emotional abuse, partner violence, relationship satisfaction, and emotion regulation

This thesis investigates the relationships between experiences of emotional abuse in childhood, partner emotional abuse in adulthood, relationship satisfaction, and difficulties in emotion regulation. The current study included 423 participants residing in Turkey, aged between 18 and 30 years, who had been in a romantic relationship for at least six months. A total of 51 participants who did not meet the age criteria or were not in an ongoing romantic relationship were excluded from the dataset. Additionally, 15 participants were removed due to being identified as outliers during the statistical analysis phase. The remaining 358 participants consisted of 259 females (72.3%), 98 males (27.4%), and 1 individual identifying as other (0.3%). The data collection process involved the use of a Demographic Information Form, the Multidimensional Emotional Abuse Scale, the Revised and Expanded Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, the Relationship Stability Scale, and the Short Form of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. Data analyses were conducted using AMOS 26 and SPSS 22 software packages. The research model was evaluated through Path Analysis, a type of Structural Equation Modeling, using AMOS 26. During the analysis phase, model fit and regression coefficients of the variables were examined. According to the results, emotional abuse in childhood directly predicted exposure to partner emotional abuse, perpetration of partner emotional abuse, and difficulties in emotion regulation. A positive relationship was found between difficulties in emotion regulation and exposure to partner emotional abuse. Additionally, difficulties in emotion regulation directly and positively predicted exposure to partner emotional abuse. A positive relationship was also found between difficulties in emotion regulation and perpetration of partner emotional abuse. However, difficulties in emotion regulation did not directly predict perpetration of partner emotional abuse. A positive relationship was observed between perpetration of partner emotional abuse and exposure to partner emotional abuse. Furthermore, difficulties in emotion regulation were found to mediate the relationship between childhood emotional abuse and exposure to partner emotional abuse. Exposure to partner emotional abuse was also found to mediate the relationship between childhood emotional abuse and perpetration of partner emotional abuse. Difficulties in emotion regulation were found to mediate the relationship between childhood emotional abuse and relationship satisfaction. A negative relationship was observed between exposure to partner emotional abuse and relationship satisfaction. Additionally, exposure to partner emotional abuse directly and negatively predicted relationship satisfaction. A negative relationship was also found between perpetration of partner emotional abuse and relationship satisfaction; however, perpetration of partner emotional abuse did not directly predict relationship satisfaction. Exposure to partner emotional abuse was found to mediate the relationship between difficulties in emotion regulation and relationship satisfaction. A negative relationship was observed between difficulties in emotion regulation and relationship satisfaction. However, perpetration of partner emotional abuse did not mediate the relationship between difficulties in emotion regulation and relationship satisfaction. Overall, the findings suggest that adverse early life experiences disrupt the development of emotion regulation skills during early stages and indicate the long-term effects of childhood experiences extending into adulthood.