Predicting Marital Intimacy Based on Emotional Alexithymia, Psychological Flexibility, Psychological Cohesion, and Self-Compassion in Married Individuals

Subject Areas : Journal of Excellence in Counseling and Psychotherapy

Zahra Bordan ¹ , Mahmoud Mirzamani Bafghi ^{2 *} , Azadeh Farghadani ³

1 -
2 - Department of Clinical Psychology, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
3 - Assistant Professor,Department of Psychology,Saveh Branch,Islamic Azad University,Saveh,Iran.

Received: 2025-04-08 Accepted : 2025-08-21 Published : 2025-10-08

Keywords: Psychological flexibility, psychological coherence, self-compassion, marital intimacy, emotional alexithymia,

Abstract :

Purpose :

The aim of the present study was to predict marital intimacy based on emotional alexithymia, psychological flexibility, psychological cohesion, and self-compassion in married individuals. This study was descriptive and correlational in terms of method.

Methodology :

The statistical population of the present study included parents (women and men) living in the city of Eslamshahr with students studying in junior high school. 443 people were selected as the research sample using a staged cluster sampling method. The research tools included the Marital Intimacy Questionnaire (MINQ) (Bagaruzi, 2001), Emotional Aphasia (TAS-20) (Taylor et al., 1997), Psychological Flexibility or Acceptance of Action (AAQ-II (Bond et al., 2011), Psychological Cohesion Questionnaire (SOC-29) (Antonovsky, 1987), and the Short Form of Self-Compassion Scale (SCS-SF) (Neff, 2003). In order to analyze the data, Pearson correlation test and multiple linear regression were used simultaneously.

Findings :

The results showed that there was a negative and significant relationship between emotional aphasia and marital intimacy, and between psychological flexibility, emotional cohesion, and self-compassion with Marital intimacy has a positive and significant relationship (P<0.01). Also, the results of regression analysis showed that emotional alexithymia, psychological flexibility, psychological coherence and self-compassion explain a total of 0.77% of marital intimacy.

Conclusions :

The results of the analysis showed that emotional alexithymia, psychological flexibility, psychological coherence, and self-compassion collectively explain marital intimacy.

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