Mostafa Dehghani

Marital stability is a key concept in marital relationships, referring to the continuity and durability of the marital bond over time. The present study aimed to distinguish between couples with stable and unstable marriages based on attachment styles, self-differentiation and conflict resolution styles in Bushehr Province, Iran. This study employed a descriptive–correlational design with a predictive approach. Discriminant function analysis was conducted to identify the variables that best distinguished couples with stable marriages from those with unstable marriages. The statistical population consisted of married individuals residing in Bushehr Province, Iran, in 2024. Based on the cutoff score of the Marital Instability Index (MII), 113 participants were classified into the stable-marriage group and 113 into the unstable-marriage group. Data were collected using the Marital Instability Index (MII), the Revised Adult Attachment Scale (RAAS), the Differentiation of Self Inventory–Short Form (DSI–SF), and the Rahim Resolution Styles (RRS). The data were analyzed using discriminant function analysis in SPSS. The results indicated that attachment styles (avoidant and anxious), self-differentiation and conflict resolution styles (integrating, avoiding, dominating, compromising, and obliging) significantly discriminated between the stable- and unstable-marriage groups (Wilks’ Lambda = .68, χ² = 83.71, p < .001). These findings suggest that the identified variables play an important role in differentiating individuals with stable marriages from those with unstable marriages and may serve as key indicators in the assessment of marital stability.