INTERPERSONAL EMOTION REGULATION AND COGNITIVE EMPATHY AS MEDIATORS BETWEEN INTRAPERSONAL EMOTION REGULATION DIFFICULTIES AND COUPLE SATISFACTION

The role of intrapersonal emotion regulation in couple satisfaction is well known, while the interpersonal emotion regulation's role has only scarcely been tackled. The few existing studies supported the role of interpersonal emotion regulation in couple, but no study has specifically assessed its effect on couple satisfaction. Likewise, it was found that cognitive empathy acts as a buffer between intrapersonal emotion regulation difficulties and hostility and positively correlates with couple satisfaction. However, no study investigated cognitive empathy as a mediator between intrapersonal emotion regulation and couple satisfaction. Moreover, no study assessed the mediator role of interpersonal emotion regulation between intrapersonal emotion regulation and couple satisfaction. Based on what was known, we took a step further, and, in line with our hypotheses, it was found that (1) interpersonal emotion regulation partially mediates the effect of intrapersonal emotion regulation difficulties on couple satisfaction. (2) Cognitive empathy partially mediates the effect of intrapersonal emotion regulation on couple satisfaction. Moreover, (3) interpersonal emotion regulation and cognitive empathy sequentially mediate the effect of intrapersonal emotion regulation difficulties on couple satisfaction. Furthermore, the implications and limits of the present study are discussed and some directions for future studies are suggested.