Self-change and relationship satisfaction in romantic relationships: Mediator role of self-esteem

In this study, the mediating role of self-esteem was examined in the relationship between self-change and relationship satisfaction experienced by young adults in their romantic relationships. The research was conducted online with 589 undergraduate and graduate students continuing their education in the 2021-2022 academic year. 212 of the participants (36%) were men, and 377 (64%) were women, with a mean age of 24.97. In the research, 'Self Change Scale in Romantic Relationships in Turkish' (Dinçer, 2017) was used to get data on the self-change that young adults experience in their romantic relationship, 'Relationship Stability Scale' (Büyükşahin, Patient, & Hovardaoğlu, 2005) was used to get data on relationship satisfaction, 'Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale' (Çuhadaroğlu, 1986) was used to get data on self-esteem and "Personal Information Form" prepared by the researcher was used to obtain data for personal information. Pearson Product Moments Correlation analysis and mediation analysis using Process Macro 4.1 were used to analyze the data obtained from the research. The obtained findings supported the hypotheses of the study and revealed the existence of significant relationships between the variables. The result of the study reveals that the variables of relationship satisfaction and self-esteem are positively and significantly related to self-expansion and self-pruning, which are the sub-dimensions of self-change, and negatively and significantly related to self-contraction and self-adulteration, which are the other sub-dimensions of self-change. The results of the mediation analysis show that self-esteem plays a mediating role between relationship satisfaction and self-expansion, self-contraction, self-pruning, self-adulteration, which are the sub-dimensions of self-change. The results were discussed within the literature, and various suggestions were made for research and practice.