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Creating resilient marriage relationships: Self-pruning and the mediation role sacrifice with satisfaction

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Abstract

In even the happiest marriage relationships, individuals sometimes can face with stressful conditions or difficulties, and nevertheless, their relationships can endure. Under these circumstances, it is thought that determining which resources provide relational resilience would be a guide in strengthening a marriage relationship. This study aimed to investigate, under stressful life circumstances, how relational resilience in marriage is explained with self-pruning, and mediation role of satisfaction with sacrifice in the relationship between self-pruning and relational resilience. 300 married individuals (156 females and 144 males) who have at least one stressful life condition participated in the study (M = 40.74, SD = .60). Participants were given Personal Information Form, The Relational Resilience Scale, The Relational-Self Change Scale, and The Satisfaction with Sacrifice Scale. The structural equation model analyses (SEM) revealed that in the face of stressful life conditions, relational resilience in marriage is closely related to self-pruning and satisfaction with sacrifice. Results of the study showed that there is a direct relationship between self-pruning and relational resilience, and satisfaction with sacrifice has a partial effect in this relationship. These findings are expected to reveal some resources that have a role in providing relational resilience in marriage and by this way, make theoretical, practical, and interventional contributions to the field of marriage, family, and couple counseling. In addition, it is seen that the results indicate the existence of a potential serving to the understanding of relational dynamics in marriages.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Özen Özer, Mustafa Araz, and Burak Nur for their assistance with data collection.

Funding

This research was funded by University of Aydın Adnan Menderes University Scientific Resarch Project (ADU BAP, Project no: EGF-18001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Guidance and Psychological Counseling, Aydın Adnan Menderes University, Aydın, Aydın, Turkey

    Didem Aydogan

  2. Department of Guidance and Psychological Counseling, Istanbul Aydin University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Duygu Dincer

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  1. Didem Aydogan
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Correspondence to Didem Aydogan.

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Aydogan, D., Dincer, D. Creating resilient marriage relationships: Self-pruning and the mediation role sacrifice with satisfaction. Curr Psychol 39, 500–510 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-019-00472-x

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