Comparison of Difficulty in Emotion Regulation, Emotional Literacy, and Sexual Knowledge and Attitudes in Married Female Students with Emotional Divorce Experience and Other Married Female Students
Keywords:
emotional divorce, sexual knowledge and attitudes, difficulty in emotion regulation, emotional literacyAbstract
Emotional divorce is a condition in which spouses, despite living together, experience no emotional exchange or feelings toward each other. This phenomenon is considered one of the fundamental causes of social and familial dysfunctions. The present study aimed to examine and compare difficulty in emotion regulation, emotional literacy, and sexual knowledge and attitudes among married female students who have experienced emotional divorce and other married female students. This research employed a causal–comparative design. The statistical population included all married students of Islamic Azad University, Lahijan Branch, during the 2024–2025 academic year. The population size was 8,543 individuals. The sample consisted of 90 students with emotional divorce experience and 90 students without such experience, selected through convenience sampling. The instruments used included the Gottman Emotional Divorce Questionnaire (2008), the Iranian Family Psychological Functioning Scale (2012), the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale by Gratz (2004), and the Sexual Knowledge and Attitudes Scale by Farjina et al. (2014). Data were analyzed at two levels: descriptive statistics (dispersion indices) and inferential statistics (univariate and multivariate analysis of variance) using SPSS version 26. The results indicated that students with emotional divorce experience had greater difficulty in emotion regulation and lower levels of emotional literacy as well as sexual knowledge and attitudes (p < .05). Difficulty in emotion regulation and deficiencies in emotional literacy and sexual knowledge are significant contributing factors to emotional divorce. Providing comprehensive educational and psychological interventions focused on emotion regulation, emotional literacy, and sexual education can improve marital relationship quality and reduce the consequences of emotional divorce.
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References
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