Abstract
Introduction: Marital commitment is a cornerstone of family stability and individual well-being, yet it remains vulnerable to the pervasive stresses of modern life, particularly among working women who navigate multiple professional and domestic roles. This study aimed to test a predictive model of marital commitment based on cognitive emotion regulation and psychological flexibility, with the mediating role of sexual self-efficacy and sexual intimacy, among married female teachers.
Methods: Overall, 300 married female teachers selected from the secondary schools of District 2, Bandar Abbas, using cluster sampling were included in this descriptive-correlational study. Data were collected using the Marital Commitment Questionnaire, the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, the Psychological Flexibility Inventory, the Sexual Self-Efficacy Questionnaire, and a standardized Sexual Intimacy Questionnaire and finally analyzed by structural equation modeling using SPSS 27 and Smart PLS-4.
Results: The analysis results of the path coefficients of the structural equation model indicated that the model had a good fit. The direct path coefficients from cognitive emotion regulation and psychological flexibility to marital commitment, sexual self-efficacy, and sexual intimacy were statistically significant. The results further revealed that the indirect paths from cognitive emotion regulation and psychological flexibility to marital commitment, mediated by sexual self-efficacy and sexual intimacy, were substantially significant and had meaningful indirect relationships with marital commitment.
Conclusion: Our findings confirmed that cognitive emotion regulation and psychological flexibility directly predict marital commitment, sexual self-efficacy, and sexual intimacy, exerting a significant indirect influence on marital commitment through the mediating roles of sexual self-efficacy and sexual intimacy. This issue underscores the importance of these psychological and relational factors in understanding and potentially enhancing marital commitment among the studied population.