The Mediating Role of Communication Beliefs in the Relationship Between Personality Traits and Emotional Empathy with Marital Stability in Women
Keywords:
Personality traits, emotional empathy, communication beliefs, marital stability, married women in TehranAbstract
The present study aimed to determine the role of personality traits and emotional empathy in women’s marital stability, with the mediating role of communication beliefs. The research method was descriptive-correlational, and the statistical population included all married women residing in Tehran in 2026. Among them, 180 participants were selected using convenience sampling and completed the NEO Personality Inventory developed by McCrae and Costa (1985), the Emotional Empathy Scale by Mehrabian and Epstein (1972), the Relationship Beliefs Inventory by Eidelson and Epstein (1982), and the Marital Stability Questionnaire by Edwards and Johnson (1980). Data were analyzed using SPSS-27 and AMOS-24 software through path analysis. The results indicated that among personality traits, agreeableness and neuroticism had a positive and significant relationship with marital stability. In contrast, openness to experience had a negative and significant relationship with marital stability. Emotional empathy had a negative and significant effect on marital stability, and communication beliefs played a significant mediating role in the relationship between personality traits and marital stability. The findings suggest that marital stability is a multidimensional phenomenon encompassing a combination of personality, emotional, and cognitive factors and cannot be attributed to a single factor alone.
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