The indirect effect of demand withdraw communication and the relationship between emotion regulation and marital satisfaction in newlyweds

This study aims to evaluate the relationship between emotion regulation and marital satisfaction in newly married couples. In evaluating this relationship, the role of demand withdraw communication pattern as the mediating variable between emotion regulation and marital satisfaction is examined. To this end, observational data were collected for demand withdraw communication. According to the results of the study, there is a negative relationship between difficulty in emotion regulation and marital satisfaction. The difficulty in emotion regulation for both spouses is negatively related to their own marital satisfaction. Moreover, the difficulty in wives' emotion regulation is negatively related to the marital satisfaction of husbands. In terms of demand withdraw communication, sex differences are found only in wives' topic. Wives exhibit demand communication while husbands exhibit withdraw communication in wives' topic. Furthermore, there is a positive correlation between the difficulty in emotion regulation of husband and wife's demand communication. However, demand withdraw communication did not mediate the relationship between emotion regulation and marital satisfaction. Key words: Emotion Regulation, Marital Satisfaction, Demand Withdraw Communication