The Relationship Between Irrational Beliefs and the Marital Satisfaction Based on the Mediating Role of the Conflict Resolution Behavior and the Marital Stress

Objectives: The current study was designed to explain the causal relationship between irrational beliefs and the marital satisfaction based on the mediating role of the conflict resolution behavior and the marital stress. Methods: The research had a descriptive-correlational design and the statistical population of the study consisted of all married men and women living in Tehran in 1398, from which 933 people according to the availability were selected. The research instruments consisted of the first version of Jones Irrational Beliefs Questionnaire, the Conflict Tactics (CT) Scales (Straus, 1979), the Stockholm Female Marital Stress Scale, and Marital Satisfaction Questionnaire. Results: The data of the present study were analyzed according to the Structural Equation Modeling. The results of the present study revealed that all fit indexes of the structural equation modeling analysis supported the goodness fit of the structural model of the collected data (X2/df=2.82, CFI=0.947, GFI=0.946, AGFI=0.910, RMSEA=0.072). In the present study, the indirect path coefficient between irrational beliefs and marital satisfaction through conflict behavior (β = -0.071, p< 0.05) and the path coefficient of both through marital stress (β = -0.127, p< 0.01) was negative and significant, respectively in the levels of 0.05 and 0.01. Conclusion: In the present study, it was concluded that both variables of conflict behavior and marital stress negatively and significantly mediated the relationship between the irrational beliefs and the marital satisfaction.