The mediating role of emotion regulation difficulties in the relationship between early maladaptive schemas and couple burnout in married women

This study aimed to examine the mediating role of emotion regulation difficulties in the relationship between early maladaptive schemas and couple burnout levels of married women. The sample of the study consisted of 400 women between the ages of 22 and 60 who have been married for at least 2 years residing in Istanbul. Socio-demographic Information Form, Young Schema Scale Short Form-3, Couple Burnout Scale and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale were used to measure the variables of the study and data were collected online. SPSS-25 program was used to analyze the hypotheses of the study and correlation, simple regression and multiple linear hierarchical regression analyses were applied. As a result of the analyses conducted for the main hypothesis of the study, it was determined that emotion regulation difficulty had a partial mediating role in the relationship between the sub-dimensions of early maladaptive schemas such as disconnection, impaired autonomy, other orientation, high standards and suppression schema domains and couple burnout. However, emotion regulation difficulty was found to have a full mediating effect in the relationship between early maladaptive schema domains of impaired boundaries and couple burnout. The results suggest that the relationship between early maladaptive schemas of married women and couple burnout is mediated by emotion regulation difficulties. The results of the study were discussed with other similar studies in Turkey and abroad. Since similar variables have not been studied together before, these findings emphasize the importance of experiencing burnout in marriage and contribute to the literature in terms of treatment and preventive interventions.