The Controversial Relationship among Emotional Divorce, Marital Infidelity, and Marital Distrust: A Field Study Using Structural Equations Modeling for Spouses in the West Bank in Palestine

Abstract

This study aims at testing the fitness of six proposed structural models to determine the direct and indirect effects of three marital variables in each other: Emotional divorce, marital infidelity, and marital distrust for spouses in the West Bank in Palestine. Also, it aimed at discovering the levels of these marital variables and revealing the effects of gender, economic and educational levels, and marriage duration in the three marital variables. An available sample was used and it consisted of (135) spouses. Out of the six proposed structural models; two structural models were accepted. According to these models; in all cases; emotional divorce is a consequence of marital infidelity and marital distrust and the opposite is not true. Levels of all marital variables were low, Married males were more tended to marital infidelity. Lower economic and educational levels and long marriage duration had negative impacts on some marital variables. Based on the results the study presented a set of recommendations and suggestions.