Elucidating the Mental Processes Leading to Recurrent Marital Conflicts
Keywords:
Marital conflict, cognitive processing, emotion regulation, communication patterns, attachmentAbstract
This study aimed to comprehensively explain the mental processes underlying recurrent marital conflicts. This qualitative study employed an analytical literature review design. Data were extracted from 16 peer-reviewed scientific articles related to marital conflict, emotion regulation, cognition, and attachment, selected purposively until theoretical saturation was achieved. Qualitative content analysis with open, axial, and selective coding was conducted using NVivo 14 to organize the concepts into an integrated conceptual framework. Four major themes emerged: dysfunctional cognitive processing patterns, disturbances in emotion regulation, maladaptive communication patterns, and influential intrapersonal and historical factors. These interrelated systems perpetuate marital conflict through cognitive distortions, emotional dysregulation, destructive interaction cycles, and attachment insecurity, forming a self-reinforcing pattern of relational instability. Recurrent marital conflict is a product of a dynamic network of cognitive, emotional, and relational processes rooted in partners’ emotional histories, requiring integrated and multidimensional intervention approaches.
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