Introduction:Emotional divorce is a type of abnormality in the family system that, although it does not lead to separation of couples, their married life lacks love, companionship, and friendship, and has negative consequences for family functioning. The present study was conducted with the aim of predicting emotional divorce in women based on communication patterns and self-criticism with the mediating role of sexual performance.

Methods:The present study was applied in terms of its purpose and was correlational and path analysis in terms of its nature and method. The statistical population included all married women referring to counseling centers in Tehran in 2023, from which 300 people were selected by random cluster sampling. The data collection tools were Gottman's Emotional Divorce Scale (1999), Huey et al.'s Communication Patterns Questionnaire (1996), Rosen et al.'s Sexual Performance Questionnaire (2000), and Thomson and Zaroff's Self-Criticism Scale (2004). The research data were analyzed using SPSS version 25 and PLS version 3.3 software.

Results:The results showed that the direct effect of the reciprocal constructive and avoidant communication pattern on sexual performance is significant (p<0.05), but the direct effect of the expectation/withdrawal communication pattern on sexual performance is not significant (p<0.05). The direct effect of self-criticism on sexual performance is significant (p<0.05), the direct effect of the avoidant communication pattern and expectation/withdrawal communication pattern on emotional divorce is significant (p<0.05), but the direct effect of self-criticism and sexual performance on emotional divorce is not significant (p<0.05). The results also showed that sexual function has a mediating role between the expectant/withdrawal and avoidant relationship patterns of emotional divorce (p<0.05). The reciprocal constructive communication pattern is not significant on emotional divorce (p<0.05). The direct effect of self-criticism and sexual performance on emotional divorce is not significant (p<0.05).The results of the goodness of fit indices of the model showed that the research model had a good goodness of fit (SRMR=0.001, NFI=1).

Conclusions:These findings highlight the interaction between communication styles, self-criticism, and emotional detachment and emphasize the importance of addressing these factors in therapeutic settings.