Emotion regulation, conflict resolution, and marital satisfaction: The mediating role of distress tolerance and cognitive flexibility

Year 2025, Volume: 7 Issue: 2, 305 - 318, 31.12.2025

Ali Yıldırım , Eyyüp Özkamalı

https://doi.org/10.51535/tell.1811568

Abstract

This study aims to develop a model regarding the factors affecting marital satisfaction. A review of domestic and international literature reveals no studies on the mediating effect of cognitive flexibility and distress tolerance on the relationship between emotion regulation, conflict resolution and marital satisfaction in married individuals. The study was conducted with a total of 472 participants, including 239 women and 233 men, aged between 18 and 69, who were married and residing in Turkey. Data were collected through the Marital Satisfaction Scale, the Cognitive Flexibility Scale, the Emotion Regulation Scale, the Distress Tolerance Scale, the Conflict Resolution Styles Scale in Romantic Relationships, and a Personal Information Form. The measurement model was tested using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), while hypotheses regarding direct and indirect effects were tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). The data from the study aligns perfectly with the model. Negative conflict resolution tolerance, tolerance's direct effects on marital satisfaction, and the indirect effects of negative conflict resolution tolerance on marital satisfaction through emotion regulation, apart from these, all other pathways revealed significant relationships among the model variables. It was found that all variables in the model explained 47% of the variation in marital satisfaction (R² = 0.468). These rates indicated that the model possessed sufficient explanatory power at the structural level.

Keywords

Marital satisfaction , Emotion regulation , Cognitive flexibility , Conflict resolution , Distress tolerance.

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