en روان شناسی تربیتی Educational Psychology پژوهشي Original <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color:#3300ff;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="line-height:2;"><b>Objective:</b>&nbsp;This study aimed to develop and test a structural model of marital intimacy, examining the roles of marital distress and psychological flexibility, with self-compassion as a mediating factor, in married individuals.<br> <b>Methods:</b>&nbsp;A descriptive-correlational design was employed. The study population consisted of married individuals (men and women) aged 34&ndash;55 living in Eslamshahr, Iran, who had a child enrolled in the first cycle of secondary school in 2023. Using staged cluster sampling, 443 participants were selected. Data were collected using validated measures of marital intimacy, psychological flexibility, marital distress, and self-compassion. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the proposed model.<br> <b>Results:</b>&nbsp;The findings indicated that the structural model of marital intimacy, incorporating marital distress and psychological flexibility with self-compassion as a mediator, demonstrated good fit. Both marital distress and psychological flexibility had significant direct effects on marital intimacy, as well as indirect effects mediated by self-compassion.<br> <b>Conclusion:</b>&nbsp;The study highlights the importance of psychological flexibility and self-compassion in mitigating the negative impact of marital distress on intimacy. Interventions aimed at enhancing psychological flexibility and fostering self-compassion may improve marital intimacy, particularly among couples experiencing distress. Future research should explore longitudinal and cross-cultural validations of this model.</span></span></span></span></div> Psychological cohesion, Psychological flexibility, Marital intimacy, Emotional alexithymia 0 0 http://ieepj.hormozgan.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1035-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Zahra Bordan zahra.bordan@iau.ac.ir 100319475328460011366 100319475328460011366 No Department of Psychology, Sav.C.,Islamic Azad University, Saveh, Iran Seyed Mahmood Mirzamani Bafghi mirzamani@bmsu.ac.ir 100319475328460011367 100319475328460011367 Yes Department of Clinical Psychology, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Azadeh Farghadani Az.Farghadani@iau.ac.ir 100319475328460011368 100319475328460011368 No Department of psychology, Sav.C.,Islamic Azad University, Saveh, Iran