Journal of Counseling Research

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Aim: A mental disorder known as anorexia is a relatively common disorder in the recent decades  and has affected many people, especially young girls. This study aims to predict the relationship between anorexia as the independent variable and family relations, self control, and alexithymia as predictor variables. Methods: This study is a descriptive-correlational type. The study sample consisted of 109 women in the city of Shiraz who were selected through convenience sampling. Anorexia mental disorder was measured using questionnaires from Garner and Garfinkel (1979), parental bonding were measured using questionnaires parental bonding by Parker et al. (1979),Self-control was measured using a self-control scale Grasmick (1993) and alexithymia was measured using the Toronto alexithymia (1986).The data was analyzed by stepwise multiple regressions test. Findings The findings showed that, impulsively is one of the sub-scales of self-control  (β =-0/24 , p<0/05) and the extreme support is a parental bonding based sub-scale (β =0/23 , p<0/05) predicted anorexia disorder. Meanwhile Alexithymia cannot predict anorexia disorder. Conclusion: Based on these findings, it can be concluded that efforts to regulate impulsivity and reduce extreme support in family relationships are effective in preventing from anorexia nervosa.
 

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Marital instability has been one of the most important challenges for families in the last half century. Objective: The objective of the present study is to investigate the relationship between emotional alexithymia and marital instability: the moderating role of communication patterns. Method: The present study was descriptive-correlational and conducted using structural equation modeling. The statistical population of this study was all married men and women in Gotvand County, Khuzestan Province, from which 203 people were selected as samples using convenience sampling. In order to measure the research variables, the Christensen and Solvay Communication Patterns Questionnaire (1985), Edwards and Booth Marital Instability (1987), and the Toronto Emotional Alexithymia Questionnaire (1997) were used. SPSS 24 and Smart Pls3 software were used to analyze the statistical data.
Findings: The results of the study showed that there is a significant positive relationship between the communication pattern of mutual avoidance, expectation/withdrawal, and emotional alexithymia and marital instability, and the relationship between the mutual constructive communication pattern, emotional alexithymia and marital instability is negative and significant; the results also showed that the mutual constructive and mutual avoidance communication patterns play a moderating role in the relationship between emotional alexithymia and marital instability, while the communication pattern of expectation/withdrawal does not play a moderating role in this relationship (p001).
Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, training and acquiring a constructive communication pattern by couples, given the significant relationship between emotional alexithymia and marital instability, can have a moderating role in reducing divorce rates.