Structural Equation Model of the Relationship between Attachment styles and Psychological Distress: The Mediating role of Emotional Schemas

Depression and anxiety are among the most common psychological disorders that, in addition to imposing exorbitant costs on the individual and society, also overlap with many psychological disorders. This study aimed to investigate the mediating role of emotional schemas in the relationship between attachment styles and psychological distress. This research was descriptive-correlational.  The statistical population included students who were studying in the Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology of Tehran and Shahid Beheshti Universities in the academic year 2019-2020, and 154 of them were selected by convenience sampling method. All subjects in the sample answered three questionnaires: Revised Adult Attachment Scale Questionnaire (Collins and Reed, 1990), Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (Laviband and Laviband, 1995), and the Leahy Emotional Schema Scale (Leahy, 2002)... A Sobel mediation test was used to analyze the data and to determine the indirect effect. The results showed that adaptive emotional schemas play a mediating role in the relationship between secure and insecure attachment styles and psychological distress (p≤0.05). There is an indirect relationship between attachment styles and psychological distress by considering emotional schemas as mediating factors. According to the results of the present study, it can be suggested that for the treatment of depression and anxiety, simultaneously repair and improve attachment styles and emotional schemas.