The effect of Childhood Trauma on Attitudes towards Marital Infidelity with the Mediation of Core Self-evaluation in College Students

Subject Areas : Psychology

niloufar damavandi ¹ , mandana niknam ^{2 *} , Marzie Hashemi ³

1 - M. A Graduated in Family counseling, Department of Psychology & Education, Faculty of Humanities, Khatam University, Tehran, Iran.
2 - Associate Professor, Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Faculty of Human Science, Khatam University, Tehran, Iran.
3 - Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology & Education, Faculty of Humanities, Khatam University, Tehran, Iran.

Received: 2023-11-30 Accepted : 2024-01-14 Published : 2025-12-06

Keywords: Childhood injuries, Core self-evaluation, Attitude towards marital infidelity, College student,

Abstract :

This study was conducted with the aim of investigating the effect of childhood trauma on the attitude towards marital infidelity with the mediating role of core self-evaluation in married students of Tehran. The research method was a descriptive correlational type. The statistical population of the research included all married male and female students of Tehran city in 2023, and 400 college student (211 females and 189 males) were selected as the research sample using available sampling method. Research tools included Core Self-evaluation Questionnaire (Judge et al., 2003), Attitude to Marital Infidelity (Whatley, 2008), Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (Bernstein et al., 2003).  Hypotheses testing was done by structural equation modeling using SMART PLS statistical software using partial least squares method. The findings showed that the mediating role of core self-evaluation was confirmed in the relationship between childhood injuries and attitudes towards marital infidelity (p<0.05). Also, the direct effects showed that childhood injuries had a positive and medium effect (β=0.357) on the attitude towards marital infidelity and the core self-evaluation had a negative and moderate effect (β = -0.346) on the attitude towards marital infidelity.Based on this,Family psychologists can provide families and young people about to get married with the necessary information about childhood trauma and its effect on self-evaluation and marital infidelity, in order to provide the basis for creating a quality and committed married life.

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