A comparative study of schema modes in formally married individuals versus those in informal cohabitation

Mahvelati, Azadeh; Abdolfakhrabad, Mohammad

doi:10.61882/jmsthums.13.1.46

Volume 13, Issue 1 (3-2025) jmsthums 2025, 13(1): 46-58 | Back to browse issues page

‎ 10.61882/jmsthums.13.1.46

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Mahvelati A, Abdolfakhrabad M. A comparative study of schema modes in formally married individuals versus those in informal cohabitation. jmsthums 2025; 13 (1) :46-58
URL: http://jms.thums.ac.ir/article-1-1337-en.html

A comparative study of schema modes in formally married individuals versus those in informal cohabitation

Azadeh Mahvelati¹

, Mohammad Abdolfakhrabad¹

1- Department of Psychology and Counseling, Imam Reza International University, Mashhad, Iran

Abstract: (885 Views)

Background & Aim: Contemporary society has seen more extreme changes in the values and attitudes about marriage of young adults, accompanied by an increasing level of informal cohabitation without legal marriage. This study, therefore, aimed to compare schema modes of formally married individuals and individuals in informal cohabitation arrangements.
Methods: The 2024 descriptive-analytical study consisted of 128 healthy individuals between the ages of 18 and 45 in two groups: formally married individuals and unmarried cohabiting individuals living in Mashhad. Among the samples of married couples, convenience sampling was used, and purposive sampling was used for individuals in informal cohabitation relationships. The instruments for data collection included a demographic questionnaire and the Young's Schema Mode Inventory (2014). For statistical analysis, descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests were used to assess significance at the 0.05 level in SPSS software version 25.
Results: Among the respondents, 65.6% were in the formal marriage category, and 34.4% were in the informal cohabitation category. Also, participants were 82.8% female and 17.2% male. According to the analysis, the mean rank of healthy adult schema mode in formal marriage participants (median = 78) was significantly higher than in informal cohabitation participants (median = 54) (U = 1258, p = 0.001). Differences did not emerge between groups on child-like schema modes, dysfunctional coping modes, or dysfunctional parental modes (p > 0.05).
Conclusion: Given that results, it showed more healthy adult schema modes in formally married individuals, and this may be important to psychological differences between these two groups. Therefore, we suggest that this specific schema is an area that needs to be addressed in relevant intervention strategies by relevant responsible agencies.

Keywords: schema mentalities* official marriage* cohabitation (white marriage).

Full-Text [PDF 295 kb] (917 Downloads)

Type of Study: Research | Subject: General
Received: 2024/08/2 | Accepted: 2024/11/26 | Published: 2025/03/21

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