Predicting marital infidelity based on incompatible mental schemas and emotional divorce in women referring to counseling centers in Iran.

Abstract

This study investigated the extent to which schema modes and emotional divorce predict marital infidelity among women seeking services at counseling centers in Urmia, Iran. Using a descriptive-correlational design, the target population included all women referred between 2023 and 2025. To minimize issues of missing or invalid responses, 231 women with reported communication difficulties and elevated risk of infidelity were recruited through voluntary sampling. Data were gathered using scales measuring attitudes toward infidelity, schema modes, and emotional divorce. Pearson correlations and stepwise multiple regression were applied for analysis. Findings indicated that the predictors collectively accounted for 33% of the variance in infidelity (R² = .33, p < .001). Specifically, reduced Healthy Adult functioning (15%) and elevated High-Demanding Parent (11%), Punitive Parent (3%), Impulsive Child (2%), and Emotional Divorce (2%) each contributed uniquely to prediction, with the overall model reaching statistical significance (p < .001). Viewed from an addiction framework, these outcomes suggest that persistent maladaptive schemas and emotional withdrawal foster dysregulated coping and reward-seeking behaviors, heightening susceptibility to extramarital involvement as well as substance-use comorbidity. Preventive and clinical interventions should therefore focus on enhancing healthy adult capacities, mitigating maladaptive parent and child modes, promoting healthy emotional expression, and incorporating routine substance-use screening in couples' therapy.