DO WE NEED A CONCEPT OF EMOTIONAL DIFFERENTIATION?

Paper

The concept of emotional differentiation as a concept appears in Murray Bowen's family theory and therapy in terms of the ability of an individual to distinguish between emotions and intellect at the level of interpersonal relationships with important others. In Emotionally Focused Couples and Family Therapy (EFT), by Dr. Susan Johnson, however, the concept of emotional differentiation is mentioned in terms of the ability of an individual to distinguish between emotions and intellect as an essential condition for harmony in a functioning within a partnership. The goal of research and development of the scientific questionnaire on the differentiation of self by Dr. Elizabeth Skowron, based on the concept of Bown's theory, is to define more precisely the delineation of emotions from intellect on a personal and interpersonal level, as well as to pose further scientific questions.

The question arises whether, we can contribute to the development of the concept of emotional differentiation, through the research of emotional differentiation by using the questionnaire of the differentiation of self, especially since both counselling and therapeutic work with individuals, couples, families and groups clearly show the need for understanding emotional differentiation.

The purpose of this paper is to compare foreign surveys of the questionnaire on the differentiation of self with the Slovenian survey of the questionnaire on the differentiation of self, which was partly carried out and published.

The Slovenian survey from 2015 is thus compared to the American survey by Joseph Rico Drake from 2011 and with the Turkish research by Erkan Isık and Sabihe Bulduk from 2015. All 46 questions from the original questionnaire are statistically valid and reliable in all three studies.
By using the methodology of descriptive statistics and Cronbach's alpha interpretation, factor analyses in the SPSS Statistics, confirmation factor analyses and regression structural model the Slovenian study gathered more precise data of the answers, which were most commonly chosen.
The results of the most commonly chosen answers are as follows: for the Slovenian questionnaire on 18 questions, while the American and the Turkish questionnaires on 20 questions, which are, however, not identical. The Slovenian questionnaire corresponds with the American in 7 questions, and with the Turkish in 11 questions. There are 5 same questions in all 3 questionnaires.

It is believed that research with systematic, in-depth and comparable data can deepen the research of the differentiation of emotions, therefore, we assume that the results of the research in question will stimulate further research and thus contribute to the development of the concept of emotional differentiation.