The compassionate type? Personality, self‐compassion, and postdivorce adjustment among Iranian women

• Published date: 01 December 2023
• Author: Azin Ghasemi,Scott S. Hall,Hassan Shahi,Lawrence S. Meyers,Jahangir Karami,Arash Rahro Mehrabani,Zahra Rahandaz,Klaus Boehnke
• Date: 01 December 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12868

RESEARCH

The compassionate type? Personality,

self-compassion, and postdivorce adjustment

among Iranian women

Azin Ghasemi

1

|Scott S. Hall

2

|Hassan Shahi

3,4

|

Lawrence S. Meyers

5

|Jahangir Karami

3

|

Arash Rahro Mehrabani

6

|Zahra Rahandaz

1

|Klaus Boehnke

7

1

Department of Psychology, Tehran Science

and Research Branch, Islamic Azad

University, Tehran, Iran

2

Department of Early Childhood, Youth, and

Family Studies, Ball State University,

Muncie, IN

3

Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social

Sciences, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran

4

Clinical Research Development Center, Imam

Khomeini and Mohammad Kermanshahi and

Farabi Hospitals, Kermanshah University of

Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran

5

Psychology Department, College of Social

Sciences & Interdisciplinary Studies, California

State University–Sacramento, Sacramento, CA

6

Department of Clinical Psychology, School of

Medicine, Kermanshah University of Medical

Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran

7

Bremen International Graduate School of

Social Sciences, Constructor University,

Bremen, Germany

Correspondence

Hassan Shahi, Department of Psychology,

Faculty of Social Sciences, Razi University,

Kermanshah, Iran. Clinical Research

Development Center, Imam Khomeini and

Mohammad Kermanshahi and Farabi

Hospitals, Kermanshah University of Medical

Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran.

Email: hassanshahi84@gmail.com

Abstract

Objective: This study examined whether the association

between the Big Five personality dimensions and

postdivorce adjustment (PDA) was mediated by Neff’s

concept of self-compassion.

Background: Research on marital psychology suggests that

multiple psychological factors are associated with PDA.

However, the mechanisms by which these factors affect

PDA have received much less attention. Accordingly, in

the current study, the potential mediation effect of self-

compassion was investigated. Cultural context of PDA is

considered.

Method: A total of 334 divorced Iranian women took part

in the study. Participants completed a sociodemographic

survey, including the Ten-Item Personality Inventory

(TIPI), the Self-Compassion Scale–Short Form (SCS-SF),

and Fisher’s Divorce Adjustment Scale (FDAS).

Results: Correlational analyses and structural equation

modeling showed a significant positive association of self-

compassion with self-reported measures of the positive fac-

tors of PDA (feeling of self-worth, disentanglement from

love relationships, social self-worth, and rebuilding social

trust), and the personality traits of emotional stability,

extraversion, and conscientiousness. There also was a sig-

nificant negative association with the negative factors of

PDA (symptoms of grief and feeling of self-anger) and the

personality traits of agreeableness, and openness to experi-

ence. Self-compassion significantly predicted variation in

positive psychological health beyond that attributable to

Author note: All authors declare that the manuscript is an original work and that there are no conflicts of interest.

Received: 4 February 2022Revised: 30 August 2022Accepted: 8 January 2023

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12868

© 2023 National Council on Family Relations.

3084 Family Relations. 2023;72:3084–3099.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare

personality; it partially mediated the relationship between

personality and postdivorce adjustment.

Conclusions: Personality appears to relate to postdivorce

adjustment through self-compassion. The role of Iranian

cultural characteristics in perceiving the magnitude of

stress resulting from divorce, and postdivorce adjustment

is discussed.

Implications: Enhancing self-compassion among divorced

Iranian women seems to be a worthwhile approach to

divorce counseling.

KEYWORDS

agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, extraversion,

openness to experience, postdivorce adjustment, self-compassion

Divorce is one of the more traumatic life experiences in adulthood and typically requires major

adjustment (Davarinejad et al., 2022; Davarinejad et al., 2021; Davarinejad et al., 2017).

Divorce rates are growing in non-Western societies, such as Iran (Yahyazadeh & Khedri, 2015).

There, in 2020, for every 100 registered marriages, 32.9 divorces occurred, rising from 176,827

to 183,193 cases in 1 year, an increase of 3.6% (Iran Open Data, 2021).

1

Dargahi et al. (2019)

confirmed that there is a relationship between unemployment, inflation, and divorce rate. The

study concluded that higher education and employment of women seem to be a potent safe-

guard against divorce, suggesting that the employment of educated women in Iran has created

stable families by reducing economic hardship. At the same time, divorce rates are higher in

urban areas (Tehran), even though unemployment is below average there. In summary, the

recorded increase in divorce rates in Iran seems to be owed to a complex interplay of economic

circumstances (increasing economic hardship) and cultural, indigenous, and religious traditions

around marriage and divorce that make it impossible to easily explain the relationship between

divorce and economic, sociostructural indicators.

For many divorced individuals, in Iran and elsewhere, being divorced means struggling with

financial burdens, losing social support, and enduring compulsory moves because of divorce

(Ahmadi et al., 2018; Asanjarani, Jazayeri, et al., 2017). Studies have shown wide-ranging dif-

ferences in how well divorced persons manage divorce-related pressure based on a variety of cir-

cumstances (Boss et al., 2017; Davarinejad et al., 2021).

As will be shown, associations with postdivorce adjustment (PDA) are inconsistent across

studies. Cultural variation across samples could contribute to unique associations. Further-

more, constructs found to predict PDA, such as personality characteristics, could be better

explained through investigating mediation effects of other constructs arguably more proximal

to PDA, such as self-compassion. The purpose of the current study is to simultaneously investi-

gate the role of personality and of self-compassion in PDA among Iranian women.

Postdivorce adjustment

PDA has been attended to by researchers for quite some time; the concept designates what ordi-

nary people experience after formal divorce (Fisher, 1977). One of the most influential theories

of PDA conceptualizes it as consisting of several dimensions: (a) feeling of self-worth (FSW)

refers to changes that happen in self-image and feelings about valuations of the self;

(b) disentanglement from the love relationship (DLR) is the possible emotional attachment

alongside possible feelings of love toward the ex-spouse; (c) social self-worth (SSW) deals with

PERSONALITY, SELF-COMPASSION, AND DIVORCE ADJUSTMENT3085