The effect of early maladaptive schemas on communication styles of romantic couples

Introduction: Communication in romantic relationships can be defined as the verbal or nonverbal communication of the partners’ feelings and thoughts to each other. One factor affecting this interaction process is whether or not individuals in a romantic relationship have a schema. Schemas can be defined as the pattern thinking or point of view an individual has about him/herself, his/her environment and the outside world. These thoughts are often thoughts that are difficult to change. This study examined the effect of early maladaptive schemas on the communication styles of individuals who have been in a relationship for at least one year.Materials and Methods: Mixed design was used in this study in İzmir, Turkey. In the quantitative part of the study, the Young Schema Scale Short Form-3 was applied to 151 participants. In the qualitative part, interview questions were asked to 10 participants selected by purposive sampling technique. The data were analyzed through content analysis, t-test, and SPSS software.Results: It was found that participants who scored high and low in early maladaptive schema domains followed different strategies in terms of communication style, emotion sharing, opinion differences, and self-disclosure themes.Conclusion: Based on the findings, early maladaptive schemas have a negative impact on interpersonal communication among couples.