The mediating role of caregiving behaviors in the relationship between object relations and marital intimacy

The aim of this study was to explain the mediating role of caring behaviors in the relationship between object relationships and marital intimacy. The method of the present study was correlational and the statistical population of this study was married women and men in Tehran who have been married for over two years. 400 people were selected by convenience sampling (200 females and 200 males) and completed the Thompson and Walker Intimacy Scale(1983)(MBI), the Care Behavior Questionnaire(1994)(CBQ), and the Bell Thematic Relationships Questionnaire(1995)(BORRTI) via online networks. path analysis was used to analyze the data. The results indicated a good fit for the research model. Data analysis showed that there is a significant negative correlation between object relations with marital intimacy and caregiving behaviors (P<0/01), and a significant positive correlation between intimacy and subscale of caregiving behaviors, proximity maintenance, sensitivity, and obsessive caregiving behaviors(P<0/01). By analyzing the path to the subscales of the variables of this research, the findings confirm the mediating role of caregiving behaviors in the relationship between object relationships and marital intimacy(P<0/01), and the mediating role of subscales proximity maintenance, sensitivity, obsessive and controlling caregiving behaviors was higher respectively. In general, research data suggests that as a person experiences insecurity in attachment relationships, he feels less intimate in his marital life due to less caring behaviors or the use of inappropriate forms of caring behaviors (including the use of controlling caring behaviors).