The Mediating Role of Psychological Flexibility in the Relationship between Interparental Conflict and Romantic Relationship Attitudes
Mon—Casino_1.801—Poster1—1802
Presented by: Leyla Budak
Experiencing conflict between parents in childhood can lead to relationship problems in adulthood, potentially causing individuals to feel anxiety about abandonment and fear of intimacy. Although research has demonstrated a relationship between interparental conflict and romantic relationship dynamics, fewer studies have explored the mechanisms underlying these relationships.This study aims to investigate the mediating role of psychological flexibility in the relationship between interparental conflict and attitudes toward romantic relationships. According to this Vulnerability Stress Adaptation Model (VSA), enduring vulnerabilities and stress-inducing events influence romantic relationships through adjustment processes. This study, based on the VSA model, examines past interparental conflict experiences as enduring vulnerabilities, psychological flexibility as an adaptive process, and attachment orientations as relational outcomes.A total of 382 people aged 18 to 60 participated in the study by filling out the scales (respectively, Experinces in Close Experiences, Personalized Psychological Flexibility Index, Children's Perception of Interparental Conflict Scale) via Google Forms. According to the preliminary findings of the study, a significant positive relationship was found between insecure attachment and interparental conflict (β =0.130, p=0.011). Also, psychological flexibility significantly and fully mediates the relationship between interparental conflict and insecure attachment, however, effect size is small (β= 0,0477, 95% CI [0.0294, 0.3197]). These findings highlight the significance of psychological flexibility and its components, offering a foundation for future research and evidence for clinical interventions targeting romantic relationship problems and past familial conflict experiences. Limitations regarding small effect size and futher implications will be discussed in poster.
Keywords: interparental conflict, psychological flexibility, attachment orientations, insecure attachment, romantic relationships