Predicting marital commitment on the basis of differentiation of self, family adaptability and cohesion, and marital intimacy

This study has been conducted with the aim to predict marital commitment based on differentiation, family’s cohesion and adaptability, and marital intimacy among married women teachers in Hamadan city. In this descriptive correlational research, sample of 346 persons across all married female teachers in Hamadan were selected by multistage random sampling. Participants in the study completed a demographic form, the standard questionnaire of marital commitment (Adams & Jones, 1997), differentiation of self inventory (Skowron & Smith, 2003), flexibility and cohesion evaluation scale-III (Olson et al., 1985) and intimacy scale (Walker & Thompson, 1983). The results of multiple regression analysis showed that among all the predictors, marital intimacy has the biggest role in predicting marital commitment and after that are family cohesion and differentiation. In total, these three variables predict about 62% of the variance of marital commitment. The findings show that the experiences of the early development of the family, the quality of the relationship between mother and child and cohesion of family members, have important effects on couples’ interpersonal relations.