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Interacción y Perspectiva Dep. Legal pp 201002Z43506

Revista de Trabajo Social ISSN 2244-808X

Octubre-diciembre

ARTÍCULO DE INVESTIGACIÓN

Antecedentes de la aparición de trastornos emocionales en parejas al borde

del divorcio

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11149242

Nahid Kolivand * y Ghazal Zand-Karimi**

Resumen

El matrimonio es un asunto bilateral y complejo entre dos personas, que desempeña un

papel esencial en la satisfacción de las necesidades emocionales, psicológicas y físicas

de la pareja. Teniendo en cuenta que la comunicación efectiva y la expresión de los

sentimientos es el principal factor de diferencia entre las parejas satisfechas e

insatisfechas, parece necesario investigar los factores relacionados con los trastornos

emocionales en las parejas al borde del divorcio. En el presente estudio, el papel de los

trastornos emocionales en los conflictos conyugales se basa en el aspecto psicológico de

los Criterios de Dominio de Investigación (RDoC). La presente investigación es cualitativa

y se utilizó el enfoque de la teoría fundamentada, que se basa en la experiencia de los

entrevistados a lo largo de su vida. Los datos se obtuvieron mediante entrevistas en

profundidad con expertos en el campo de la psicología. Los destinatarios de la

investigación fueron psicólogos de Teherán. Tras la recogida de datos, se realizó una

triangulación en tres niveles de codificación. Los resultados mostraron que la conciencia

de estas dimensiones en la vida de cada persona puede prevenir la aparición de

trastornos emocionales en las parejas, de hecho, la falta de conciencia de las diferentes

dimensiones de las emociones en la vida matrimonial puede crear un círculo vicioso y

continuar en la dirección equivocada. Según los resultados de la investigación, parece

que si se diseña y aplica un programa adecuado de asesoramiento o tratamiento, es

posible prevenir la aparición de daños causados por los antecedentes de los trastornos

emocionales, como las emociones negativas, en la vida conyugal de las parejas.

Palabras clave: trastornos emocionales, divorcio, marco RDdC.

Abstract

Antecedents of the ocurrence of emotional disorders im couples on the verge

of divorce

Marriage is a two-sided and complex matter between two people, which plays an

essential role in meeting the emotional, psychological and physical needs of the couple.

Considering that effective communication and expression of feelings is the main factor

in the difference between satisfied and dissatisfied couples, therefore, it seems

necessary to investigate the factors related to emotional disorders in couples on the

verge of divorce. In the current study, the role of emotional disorders in marital conflicts

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559

is based on the psychological aspect of Research Domain Criteria (RDoC). The current

research is qualitative and the grounded theory approach is used, which is based on the

experience of the interviewees throughout their lives. Data were obtained through in-

depth interviews with experts in the field of psychology. The research community were

psychologists in Tehran. After data collection, triangulation was done at three levels of

coding. The results showed that the awareness of these dimensions in the life of each

person can prevent the occurrence of emotional disorders in couples, in fact, the lack of

awareness of the different dimensions of emotions in married life can create a vicious

cycle and continue in the wrong direction. According to the findings of the research, it

seems that if a suitable counseling or treatment program is designed and implemented,

it is possible to prevent the occurrence of damages caused by the antecedents of

emotional disorders such as negative emotions in the married life of couples.

Keywords: emotional disorders, divorce, RDoC framework

Recibido: 29/03/2024 Aceptado: 29/04/2024

*Master of General psychology, Iran. Email; Nahid.kolivand2020@gmail.com ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-

0004-5815-0498

** Assistant Professor, Group of Psychology, Refah University College, Tehran, Iran. Email;

ghazalzandi@yahoo.com ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1753-3666

1. Introduction

Marriage is a two-sided and complex matter between two people, which plays an

essential role in providing the emotional, psychological and physical needs, as well as

the flourishing of the abilities and mental peace of the couple. This mental peace is

achieved when the couple can show the appropriate emotional reaction to the expression

of each other's thoughts, desires and behaviors. Couples who suffer from emotional

disorders endure a lot of stress and suffering, so their emotional and marital relationships

are disturbed and they are more likely to be exposed to psychological fragility, marriage

instability and divorce (Abassi, Askarpour and Gharibi, 2018; Fath Elahi et al., 2014).

These severe conflicts and differences are among the important factors that negatively

affect the quality of married life and the stability of marriage (Thawabi, Khoynejad and

Safarian Toosi, 2019). Considering the negative effects and consequences of divorce at

the individual and social levels, especially for women, and the significant increase in the

number of divorces in Iran in recent years, it is necessary to take preventive measures

to reduce these damages. And this is only possible by identifying the factors that create

the background of this phenomenon (Damari, Masoudi Farid, Derakhshan Nia and Ehsani

Chimeh, 1400).

Various researches consider various factors involved in conflict and tendency towards

divorce; But a common factor that has been mentioned in most researches is cognitions,

which include attitudes, thoughts and schemas. Schemas are important beliefs and

feelings about oneself and the environment that people have accepted without question.

One of their types is emotional schemas, based on which emotional disorders are

defined, caused by how people evaluate and interpret their emotional experiences and

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the strategies they use to deal with them (Zamani Zarchi, Samadi Kashan and

Qasimzadeh, 2017). According to the studies, people are different in the way they

experience emotions and conceptualize them, and depending on the beliefs they have

about their emotions, they choose different ways to act. People who have a lot of

negative emotions tend to take extreme actions in relatively anxiety-provoking or

unfavorable situations. These people blame and severely criticize themselves and show

excessive sensitivity towards others. These negative characteristics, in the long term,

cause separation and distance between couples, problems in the relationship and a

decrease in intimacy (Weiss, Lavner and Miller, 2017).

In previous studies, the role of emotional disorders in marital conflicts has been

investigated from the psychological aspect and based on the ICD-11 and DSM-5

systems. However, according to the RDoC system, emotional disorders are not just

derived from cognitive and mental disorders and have a psycho-biological basis. The

difference in the theoretical framework of RDoC regarding the investigation of emotional

disorders is the correction and change in the continuity and similarity of the signs and

symptoms of this type of disorders, which causes a new position to be proposed and

investigated, and includes positive and negative emotional capacity, systems Cognitive

systems are information processing systems, arousal regulation systems, and

sensorimotor systems (Salis et al., 2020).

The Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) project represents a framework for research

on mental disorders that focuses on dimensions of behavioral/psychological functioning

and their implementing neural circuits. RDoC originated from one element of the National

Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Strategic Plan for Research released in 2008, a

document motivated throughout by the need to accelerate progress in reducing the

burden of suffering from mental illness.

Unveiled in 2010, RDoC addresses an emergent obstacle to progress regarding the

Institute’s mission: the use of traditional diagnostic manuals for research on mental

disorders. The primary manual in the United States is the Diagnostic and Statistical

Manual of Mental Disorders, currently in its fifth edition (DSM; American Psychiatric

Association, 2013).

In fact, the US National Institute of Mental Health created the RDoC as a new

framework for research on psychopathology. One of the dimensions that is considered

in the diagnostic system of RDoC dimensions to investigate emotional disorders is

negative and positive emotional capacity. Positive affective capacity includes valuing,

expecting and learning rewards and reinforcement factors. And negative emotional

capacity also includes most cases related to disappointment, lack of experience of reward

and reinforcement, worries and traumas. Negative emotion reflects how much a person

feels helpless, angry, irritable and nervous (Abassi et al., 2018). Considering that most

people pay attention to their negative and positive emotions when judging their level of

marital satisfaction, which indicates that their positive emotions prevail over negative

emotions (Momini, Kerami and Hovizizadegan, 2017), hence the study Positive and

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negative emotions are very important as indicators of positive and negative activity and

may be considered as one of the predictors of marital life satisfaction. On the other hand,

RDoC, which is based on analytical research in the fields of neuroscience, genomics and

experimental psychology, describes the symptoms and signs of psychopathology,

instead of grouping disorders, which was previously done with ICD-11 and DSM-5.

Identifying these signs and symptoms can lead to better understanding of emotional

disorders and their antecedents based on the RDoC system, compared to DSM-5 and

ICD-11. RDoC attempts to overcome some limitations by taking a new approach to the

study of brain and behavioral processes that enable a wide range of natural and

traumatic experiences to occur in certain environmental contexts (Gore and Widger,

2018). According to studies, the processing of negative emotions in different parts of

the brain such as the amygdala in people with emotional disorders are very similar to

each other (Planaripol, Pederson and Holtz, 2019). As they try to avoid various emotional

experiences, these people make their distress more stable and stable. Positive and

negative emotional capacity are probably biological vulnerability factors in the

development of emotional disorders. The higher the emotional capacity of a person, the

higher the probability of predicting emotional disorders. Also, the low level of positive

emotion in a person will increase the occurrence of psychological problems such as

depression and social anxiety in him. This shows the importance and relevance of these

factors in the emergence of emotional disorders in people.

Considering the high importance of this issue in the society, comprehensive and

complete studies have not been conducted in this regard, and it is necessary to

investigate the role of these important psychological factors in the occurrence of marital

problems. Because knowing the emotional components can play an effective role in

improving the psychological condition of couples in the marital relationship; therefore,

considering the importance of the emotional components and emotional disorders of

couples, the purpose of this research is to investigate the antecedents of emotional

disorders of couples on the verge of divorce according to the RDOC framework. In order

to achieve this goal, the present study tries to answer the following question: "What are

the antecedents of emotional disorders of couples on the verge of divorce according to

the RDOC framework?".

2. Methodology

The current research is qualitative and the grounded theory approach is used, which

is based on the experience of the interviewees that they have acquired throughout their

lives. In this method, the collected data go through their evolution until reaching the

theory. Data were obtained through in-depth interviews with experts in the field of

psychology with the aim of investigating the antecedents of emotional disorders in

couples on the verge of divorce based on RDoC. The research community was experts,

professors and experts in the field of psychological science and counseling in Tehran.

After collecting the data through triangulation, coding was done on three levels. Open,

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central and theoretical codes were extracted in relation to the antecedents of emotional

disorders of couples on the verge of divorce. Then, the training protocol was extracted

from the three-level codes and was again validated by triangulation. Semi-structured

interviews with psychology experts continued until the data reached saturation. In this

study, the interview reached saturation in the ninth person. The criteria for entering the

study were couples who were on the verge of divorce, had at least one year of experience

living together, had no other psychological problems such as depression, the reason for

their divorce was not addiction, poverty, unemployment, etc., and disorder an emotion

was detected in them by the expert. The exit criterion was lack of accuracy and desire

to continue the interview.

A semi-structured interview was used to collect data, and the questions were

designed according to the general purpose of the research. The researcher is responsible

for decoding the answers and classifying them. After measuring the validity of the study

by experts in the field of psychology (validity of evaluators), the full text of the interview

was implemented. The people participating in this research plan participated in it with

full knowledge and filled the written consent form before conducting the interview. The

approximate duration of the interview was 45 to 60 minutes, and during the interview,

the voice of the interviewee was recorded and analyzed with his knowledge. In these

interviews, an attempt was made to observe ethical principles and the principle of

confidentiality was observed and raised. Without any hesitation, the experts could

withdraw from the plan at any time and stop their cooperation. No cash was received for

participating in the interview session, but the researcher considered a small gift in

proportion to the efforts in the long sessions as a token of appreciation and compensation

for the effort. During the interview, if necessary, notes were taken by the researcher

and the voices of the experts were recorded. After completing the interview with the

help of the supervisor and consultant, the necessary coding was done using the three-

level method. The interview questions are given in table (1).

Table 1.

Interview questions with psychology experts

Positive

emotion

1. How did couples respond to love in recent years? (reply to reward)

2. How did couples learn to love their spouses? (reward learning)

3. How did couples value their love and relationship? (reward evaluation)

Negative

emotion

1. How much have the couple been involved in worrying issues such as

infidelity, addiction, job loss, etc.? So that for each of them there is a

feeling of fear and extreme concern in the relationship. (feeling of acute

threat)

2. How much have the couple been involved in chronic disturbing issues

such as rejection, lack of affection, lack of attachment and dependence on

the previous family, playmate, etc. during the relationship? (Chronic sense

of threat)

3. Were the couples disappointed in their love and affection for each other

or in their relationship? (disappointment of reward)

4. How much has each couple felt lost? (feeling of loss)

Source: compiled by the author

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From the multitude of information obtained from the interviews, the correct

concepts or codes were extracted and coding was done. Then by comparing the obtained

concepts, similar and different cases were identified and similar cases were placed in

one group, which was named as core codes. These categories help the researcher to

establish the right relationship between open codes and the formation and explanation

of his theoretical process. Finally, the core codes are placed in another class under the

title of theoretical codes based on their concepts. In fact, the results are the results of

open and axial coding that creates theoretical coding. This process continued until the

data was saturated.

The validity of the current research was evaluated and confirmed by experts in

the field of psychology. In order to achieve the credibility of the research, the credibility

criteria were examined using the method of Lincoln and Guba (1994, cited by Cope

2014). Re-referencing the elements and components and clarifying the steps and

processes in order to facilitate the review and understanding of experiences. In the

present study, the agreement for the first evaluator in the open, central and theoretical

codes obtained was 0.90 and for the second evaluator was 0.95 and the lack of

agreement for the first evaluator was 0.10 and for the second evaluator was 0.05.

Therefore, the probability of disagreement was equal to 0.005. With these

interpretations, the Kappa coefficient of agreement between the two evaluators in the

extracted codes according to the formula was equal to 0.85 (the appropriate value of

Cohen's Kappa reliability coefficient is above 0.60 (Cohen, 1960).

3. Results

The phase of implementing qualitative data

In this research, the researcher has used the content analysis method (three stages

of coding) or the triangulation method to achieve the desired results. The open, central

and theoretical codes extracted from the interviews of psychology researchers, along

with some sentences of the interviewees, were extracted for the theoretical code of

responding to reward, reward learning code, reward valuing code and reward

disappointment code. The theoretical code of responding to rewards for example is given

in table (2). The open codes in this table are the result of the inferences of the researcher

and expert experts and the dissertation supervisor from the interviewees' conversations,

which were obtained by the triangulation method and by carefully examining the content

of the interview. The obtained open codes were categorized using the triangulation

method, which resulted in axial codes. This process of categorization and extraction with

triangulation method continued until the core codes were saturated.

Table 2

Table of open and central codes in the theoretical code of response to reward

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INTERVIEW

PHRASE

OPEN

CODE

AXIAL

CODE

The psychotherapist suggested a divorce for

the couple, but his wife said that he cannot

divorce his wife because he loves her.

Correct

answer to

reward

Correct

answer to

reward

The lady was attracted to her husband from

the beginning and was able to make him

interested in her very well.

The lady listened well to her husband's

heartache.

The lady loved her husband in life.

The lady said that my wife does not respond

to my love at all.

Failure to

respond to

rewards

The man did not know his wife's love

language.

The man did not express love and affection

due to emotional deprivation.

The man had a caressing weakness and

could not satisfy the psychological needs of

his wife.

Husband and wife did not support each other

emotionally.

The man showed signs of emotional

weakness and lack of control, so it took him

weeks to express his problem.

Delayed

response to

reward

The man had a very low emotional

intelligence in society, because of this, he

understood many things late and needed

additional explanations.

When the relationship was degraded, the

lady was ready to restore it, but it was too

late.

The lady cared a lot about her husband and

even waited for him until late so that they

could eat together.

The right

saturation

of rewards

The lady loved her father very much and saw

affection from him.

Husband and wife loved each other so much

that despite all the conflicts, they could not

live without each other.

Full of

rewards

The husband always admired his wife for her

independence.

Husband and wife never loved each other

and never got enough of love

Lack of

reward

saturation

Their married life was over.

There was no love between husband and

wife.

Source: compiled by the author

• Conceptual model presented in the field of positive and negative affect subscales

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The conceptual model of the current research is presented based on previous

researches and based on the conducted interviews in the form of 3 open, central and

theoretical codes in picture (1). In this model, the dimensions of positive and negative

emotions were expressed in the fields of valuing rewards, responding to rewards,

learning rewards, and disappointment with rewards. This model shows that the

awareness of these dimensions in the life of each person can prevent the occurrence of

emotional disorders in couples. In fact, the lack of awareness of the different dimensions

of emotions in married life can create a vicious cycle and continue in the wrong direction.

According to the findings of the research, it seems that if a suitable counseling or

treatment program is designed and implemented, it is possible to prevent the occurrence

of damages caused by the antecedents of emotional disorders such as negative emotions

in the married life of couples.

Figure 1.

Conceptual model presented in the field of positive and negative affect

subscales

Source: Authors development

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4. Discussion

Discussion around the question: What are the antecedents of emotional disorders of

couples on the verge of divorce according to the RDoC framework?

Considering that effective communication and expression of emotions is an essential

factor in the difference between satisfied and unhappy couples, therefore the researcher

has tried to deeply investigate the factors related to emotional disorders, especially the

underlying factors of lack of positive emotion and presence of negative emotion. In

couples on the verge of divorce, based on the RDoC system, through interviews with

experts in the field of psychology;

Discussing the lack of positive affect system in divorcing couples

Related concepts were obtained through open, theoretical and axial coding, and

based on them, three theoretical codes for positive emotion, under the title of response

to reward, reward learning and reward valuing, and one theoretical code for negative

emotion, under the title of disappointment from specific reward. Became Regarding the

theoretical code of reward responsiveness, two central codes were extracted with the

title 1. Initial response to reward and 2. Saturation with reward.

Primary response code to reward: a person behaves in two ways when faced with a

reward; Either he accepts it and responds at the same moment, or he does not respond

to it. In fact, the criteria for accepting the value by the individual will be based on his

prioritization and choosing a reward from among several rewards with the same value.

This prioritization of value is based on positive and negative aspects of reward. Couples

with emotional disorders are not able to respond correctly to their emotional and sexual

needs due to low marital satisfaction. Also, emotionally, they do not have the ability to

communicate properly with the people around them, especially their life partners.

Reward saturation code: This central code states that repeated repetition of a reward

situation causes the person to ignore it. In fact, a kind of saturation with the reward

occurs in the person, which reduces the effectiveness of the reward in him. In this case,

the person responds to the reward, but this response is so weak that it does not have

the power to influence the person. In couples with emotional disorders who are on the

verge of divorce, they become indifferent to it due to being constantly placed in similar

situations of receiving answers.

Regarding the theoretical code of reward valuation, three core codes with the title;

1. Reward probability, 2. Valuation delay and 3. Valuation effort were extracted.

Bonus Probability Code: In this central code, a person is faced with two modes of reward

probability and reward probability error. Open coding of some interviews showed that

some couples tend to stay in a relationship with the possibility of receiving rewards in

the future. That is, the possibility of receiving a reward makes it possible for this group

of couples to continue their marital relationship. The possibility of reward can have a

positive effect on improving relationships. On the other hand, a group of couples with

emotional disorders do not have a correct prediction of reward, and in most cases, the

probability of their reward is met with error. According to the open codes of the

conducted interviews, couples who have marital discord decide to do this with the

possibility that having children can improve their relationship; Or some couples do a

favor or service for their spouse with the possibility of receiving mutual rewards. When

their expectations are not met, it causes frustration in one of the parties.

Valuation delay code: There are always factors that can act as an obstacle to reach

different rewards. The reinforcing value of rewards is lost over time, so a person may

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choose a small reward at one point in time regardless of its value, but the same reward

will be worthless to him after the passage of time. Based on this, there are two types of

valuation in people towards different rewards: positive valuation and negative valuation.

People who have high positive affect, their valuation of rewards is positive and does not

change over time. But when negative emotion appears in a person, his evaluation of a

value that was positive at the beginning becomes negative with the passage of time.

Valuing effort code: When faced with any reinforcing factor, a person values it first.

Therefore, a reinforcing factor can have a different value in two people. People have

different mental expectations regarding the consequences of their behavior and the

reinforcement factors that appear behind the behavior. According to these expectations,

people adjust their behavior in a way that leads to a certain reward. Different rewards

have different values from the point of view of each person, and this valuation depends

on the situation in which they receive it. Therefore, based on the situation of its

occurrence, they judge the value of the received reward. According to the open codes

obtained from the interviews of the current research, people act in 3 ways in trying to

value: 1. They try for internal reward, like a woman who, because of her love for her

husband and her life, tried treatment to have children. 2. They strive for external

rewards, like a man who asked for help from his wife's family to resolve his marital

disputes with his wife. 3. They don't try to value, like couples who ignore each other's

kindness and goodness.

Regarding the theoretical code of reward learning, three core codes were extracted

with the title 1. Possible reward learning, 2. Learning error and 3. Error habit.

Probabilistic reward learning code: If a reward is given after a response, it will increase

the probability of its occurrence and repetition again in the same situation and

conditions. If learning is done correctly, it will improve the relationship between couples.

For example, psychotherapist trainings lead to the formation of self-leadership and high

acceptance in the parties, and they find this ability to manage the problems that have

arisen and take steps to solve them. The more positive the results of these teachings,

the more likely couples are to repeat them. On the other hand, if there is no effort or

desire to learn to manage and solve problems in couples, not only the relationship

between them will not improve, but also the number of differences between couples with

each other and even with their children will increase.

Learning error code: wrong prediction about an answer can cause wrong decisions

and behaviors that are the basis of disorders between couples. For example, a man's

bad heart towards his wife causes him to be overly controlling. Or the destructive

behavior of one of the couples causes a decrease in affection and unloveliness of the

other party. But correctly predicting a result or reward can increase the acceptance of

an error or mistake on the part of one of the couples, and the effort to fix or correct it

improves the relationship. For example, in one of the theoretical codes from the

interview with the couple, a woman saw her life in danger and knew that she was to

blame somewhere and that her schema was flawed, so she started to change it.

Error habit code: People wait for encouragement and reward or punishment for their

actions and behaviors. This expectation is a kind of habit that is automatically created

in a person. Any behavior that is accompanied by a reward will reinforce and repeat it.

In interviews with couples on the verge of divorce, the habit of making mistakes is shown

in three forms: habit of reward, lack of habit of reward and error of habit of reward. In

habit of reward, it was shown that because the lady had received a lot of love and respect

in her own family, she treated her husband accordingly. On the other hand, not being

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used to rewards, the lady had received a lot of anxiety and worry from her parents in

her family environment, and therefore she was constantly anxious and worried in her

life together with her husband. In the third case, there was a kind of pretense in the

couple's behavior, they were good with each other in the presence of others, but in their

privacy, they were constantly affected by the resentment they had towards each other.

Discussing the negative affect system in couples on the verge of divorce

Regarding the negative emotion system, "disappointment from reward" was

proposed, which was characterized by two central codes: 1. Self-directed and 2.

Environmental-directed. These two central codes included two open codes, 1. Intrinsic

reward and frustration from intrinsic reward and 2. Extrinsic reward and frustration from

external reward, respectively.

Reward disappointment: People experience reward disappointment when they fail to

obtain positive rewards despite persistent effort. Repeating this reaction can cause

sadness in these people (Rockville, 2011). In their study, Iraqi et al. (2019) examined

the effectiveness of the approach based on acceptance and commitment on reducing

emotional dyslexia and frustration of couples applying for divorce and stated in their

results that the approach based on acceptance and commitment significantly reduced

the level of depression and emotional dyslexia. Reduces in couples applying for divorce.

Acceptance and commitment therapy can be considered as an effective treatment to

improve the frustration and ataxia of couples applying for divorce by teaching concepts

such as identifying values, mindfulness and committed action.

The final pattern is extracted

The pattern extracted from this study showed how underlying factors in the absence

of positive affect system act in the formation of marital disputes in couples who have

emotional disorders. Therefore, according to the presented model, there will be 3

solutions to increase or decrease the probability of the antecedents of emotional

disorders. People who have a correct prediction of the possibility of reward in their life

and give an appropriate response to it, will experience a reduction in emotional

disorders. This reward can be approved by family, life partner, friend, etc. or the result

of interpersonal interaction, and it makes the person get used to receiving these rewards

and over time it becomes a value in him. This type of response to reward shows the

presence of a positive affective system in a person's lifestyle. On the other hand, the

higher the positive emotion in a person's life, the lower the amount of negative emotion.

This reduces the amount of worry, frustration and stress in one's life. All these factors

reduce marital disorders and improve their relationships. On the other hand, people who

do not receive any reward or encouragement in their life or do not respond to it,

somehow in their life they were not used to being encouraged and loved by the people

around them, this lifestyle has become a habit in them. Is. These factors make the

system of positive emotions fade in the lives of these people and negative emotions take

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its place. This reduction in positive emotions and the increase in negative emotions in a

person's life has caused the formation of emotional disorders that create the basis for

increasing marital differences in couples' relationships.

5. Conclusion

The aim of the present study was to identify the antecedents of emotional disorders

and the lack of positive affect system in couples on the verge of divorce, and in those

three factors of response to reward, learning reward and valuing reward in positive

affect, and one factor of disappointment from reward in negative affect through

interviews with Experts in the field of psychology were examined. Reasons for

responding to reward included primary response to reward and saturation of reward.

Reward learning factors included learning error, error habit, and reward probability

learning, and reward valuation factors included reward probability, valuation delay, and

valuation effort. On the other hand, regarding the negative emotion which included the

disappointment of the reward, it included two factors of disappointment focused on the

self and focused on the environment. Each of these themes also includes a series of

categories.

The results showed that the low level of positive emotion and the high level of

negative emotion in the lives of people with emotional disorders are caused by the lack

of reward experience and response to it and the inability to value the reward. People

whose negative life features (whether in their family or in their life together with their

partner) are more than positive features, have less hope and vitality and feel less

valuable. Respect and gratitude increases the level of life satisfaction and happiness,

which is absent or very low in people with negative emotions. In fact, the level of

disappointment from internal and external rewards in these people causes the formation

of emotional disorders throughout their lives, and its antecedents are manifested in their

shared life with another person. On the other hand, a high level of positive emotion

greatly reduces the possibility of developing emotional disorders in people. Because

these people, interacting with others in the family and society, have learned and applied

the 3 characteristics of reward learning, reward response and reward valuing in their

lives. Therefore, the feeling of being valuable is formed in these people and this positive

thinking is also manifested in their common life. According to the results of the present

research, it can be said that positive and negative emotions affect a person's behavior.

The reward arouses motivation and passion and positive emotion is created in the

person after the behavior that he receives from the person and receives the reward. On

the other hand, not receiving reward or punishment causes annoyance and creates

negative emotions. Anticipating receiving a reward and responding to it creates a good

feeling in a person, and in doing it again, consistency is created and it becomes a habit.

These habits and positive valuing of rewards ultimately cause positive emotions and

reduce the possibility of emotional disorders and thus marital disputes. On the other

hand, negative emotion and unpleasant mood are created due to disappointment of

Kolivand y Zand-Karimi/ Antecedentes de la aparición de trastornos emocionales en parejas al borde del

divorcio

570

reward and its continuation causes the formation of emotional disorders in people, the

result of which is the manifestation of negative emotion in the common life.

Conducting any study comes with limitations and one of the most important

limitations of the present study; there was a lack of qualitative studies in the field of

research in Iran and lack of access to some sources. Also, this research was only

conducted regarding the negative and positive affect factors of emotional disorders and

other factors of RDoC were not considered. Therefore, researchers are suggested to

investigate other antecedents of emotional disorders regarding couples on the verge of

divorce. Also, the antecedents of emotional disorders in two groups of couples on the

verge of divorce and other couples should be compared. It is also suggested to help

improve emotional disorders in couples by holding some educational workshops or

psychological programs in the media, and to pay more attention to couples' emotional

issues in counseling sessions before marriage so that their relationship does not lead to

divorce.

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