cognitive emotion regulation strategies and marital communication patterns in married women: investigating the mediating role of defense mechanisms

Objective: this descriptive-correlational study aims to investigate the mediating role of defense mechanisms (dms) in the relationship between cognitive emotion regulation strategies (cer) and marital communication patterns (mcp) in married women in tehran province, iran. methods: the statistical population of the study included all married women in tehran province in 2021. a total of 170 subjects were selected as the statistical sample of the study via convenience sampling methods. data were collected using the cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire (cerq), the couples’ communication patterns questionnaire (cpq), and the defense style questionnaire (dsq). in data analysis, in addition to using descriptive statistics, the inferential statistics section was analyzed using spss software, version 26, and amos software, version 24.results: based on the goodness of fit indices, dms play a mediating role in the relationship between cer strategies and mcp. the indirect size effect of the cer strategies on the mcp is positively significant with a standardized coefficient of 0.38 (p<0.05).conclusion: therefore, considering the importance of mcp in married life, cer strategies and dms are necessary to inform and inform people about cognitive strategies of emotional regulation and emotional adjustment. family therapists are recommended to consider cer strategies as well as dms to treat marital issues.