Causal model Predicting marital infidelity based on attachment styles, cognitive flexibility and Sexual satisfaction with the mediating role of cognitive flexibility in couples

Subject Areas : Woman and family

kazem Karimzadeh ¹ , Amir Panah Ali ^{2 *} , Khalil Esmailpour ³ , Marziyeh Alivandi Vafa ⁴

1 - 1Doctoral student of counseling Unit, Science and Research Campus of East Azarbaijan Province, Tabriz Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran
2 - Assistant Professor, Department of Counseling and Psychology, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran (Corresponding Author)
3 - 3Associate professor, Faculty of Education and Psychology, faculty, Tabriz, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran
4 - Corresponding author: Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran. ORCID: 0000- 0002-1197-9598. E-mail: [e-mail]

Received: 2024-01-22 Accepted : 2024-04-16 Published : 2025-03-18

Keywords: marital infidelity, attachment styles, cognitive flexibility, adaptation and sexual satisfaction,

Abstract :

The research method was a fundamental research in terms of its purpose, and a quantitative research in terms of its nature, and a descriptive-correlational research in terms of its implementation method, which was carried out in the form of non-experimental studies and with the structural equation modeling method, and the statistical population included all couples who had at least one experience of virtual infidelity. Text messages or phone calls and sex in Khoi city were in the first six months of 1401. According to the rule of thumb, 480 people were selected by purposive sampling method for each observed variable. The questionnaires of marital infidelity, spouses' attachment styles and cognitive flexibility were used to collect information. Data analysis was done with SPSS27 and AMOS24 software and the results showed that the research model fits the collected data. There is a negative relationship between secure and rejecting attachment styles with marital infidelity, and there is a positive relationship between fearful and preoccupied styles with marital infidelity. Also, the mediating role of flexibility in the relationship between preoccupation with marital infidelity was confirmed. There was a direct and significant effect coefficient between compatibility (-0.38) and sexual satisfaction (-0.49) with marital infidelity (P<0.001). A direct and significant effect was observed between compatibility (0.29) and sexual satisfaction (0.44) with cognitive flexibility (P<0.001). However, due to the non-significance of indirect coefficients, the mediating role of cognitive flexibility in the relationship between adaptation and sexual satisfaction with marital infidelity was not confirmed.