Personality Beliefs, Manipulation Strategies, and Empathy Levels in Married Couples in Türkiye

Abstract: Marital relationships are shaped by the interaction of individual cognitive characteristics and interpersonal processes. Although maladaptive personality beliefs are associated with dysfunctional interpersonal functioning, little is known about their relationships with manipulation and marital empathy in non-WEIRD contexts. This study examined associations among maladaptive personality beliefs, manipulation strategies, and marital empathy in a nonclinical Turkish married sample. Participants were 200 married individuals (100 heterosexual couples) residing in Türkiye. Data were collected using the Personality Belief Questionnaire, Manipulation in Interpersonal Relationships Scale, and Marital Empathy Scale. Pearson correlations and multiple regression analyses were conducted. Maladaptive personality beliefs were positively associated with manipulation and negatively associated with marital empathy. Antisocial, narcissistic, and histrionic beliefs showed the strongest positive associations with manipulative behaviors, whereas borderline and dependent beliefs were more strongly related to emotional manipulation and self-concealment. Both personality beliefs and marital empathy showed independent associations with manipulation in the regression model, with personality beliefs accounting for substantially greater unique variance. The regression model showed a medium effect size, although considerable variance remained unexplained. Findings extend cognitive-interpersonal models to a non-WEIRD cultural context and support a dimensional, belief-based framework for understanding marital manipulation and empathy without implying clinical personality pathology. Findings should be interpreted cautiously because analyses were conducted at the individual rather than dyadic level.