The mediating effect of ambivalence over emotional expressiveness in the relationship between self-differentiation and interpersonal relationship ability in middle-aged women

Objectives The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between self-differentiation, ambivalence over emotional expressiveness, and interpersonal relationship ability in middle-aged women, and to examine whether ambivalence over emotional expressiveness plays a mediating role in the relationship between self-differentiation and interpersonal relationship ability. Methods For this purpose, an online survey targeted middle-aged women aged between 40-59 over the country was conducted, and 275 answers were analyzed with SPSS 27.0 and SPSS Process Macro 4.1. Results The results of the study are as follows. First, it was found that there was a significant positive correlation between self-differentiation and interpersonal relationship ability. Second, there was a significant negative correlation between self-differentiation and ambivalence over emotional expressiveness. Third, by examining the mediating effect of ambivalence over emotional expressiveness by sub-factor, self-defensive ambivalence did not appear to have a mediating effect in the relationship between self-differentiation and interpersonal relationship ability, whereas relationship-involved ambivalence had a mediating effect. Conclusions Through this research, it was confirmed that relationship-related emotional expression ambivalence plays a certain role in the process in which middle-aged women's self-differentiation affects their interpersonal ability. It means that the issues of conflicts due to relationship-involved motivation should be handled while counseling middle-aged women with difficulties in interpersonal relationships.