Background and Objectives: Enduring life problems in mothers who are heads of the family lead to some psychological and physical complications due to their different lifestyles. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between differentiation, bereavement reaction, and attributional styles and psychological disturbance in mothers who are the head of the family.
Materials and Methods: In the current descriptive study, the statistical population included all the heads of families living in Qom in 2023, and 200 people were selected by covenience sampling from the Imam Khomeini (RA) Relief Committee, Education Departement, and welfare centers. Mothers were evaluated through Differentiation of Self Inventory (DSI-46), Hogan’s Grief Reaction Checklist (HGRC), Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ), and Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21), and data were analyzed by Pearson’s correlation test and multiple linear regression.
Results: The results showed that there is a significant inverse correlation coefficient between differentiation (r=-0.39), positive documents (r=-0.16), and personal growth (r=-0.38) and psychological disturbance, and a significant direct correlation between helplessness caused by bereavement (r=0.84) and psychological disturbance (p<0.01).
Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that differentiation, reaction to bereavement, and attributional styles can predict the psychological disturbance of mothers who are heads of the family. It appears that with counseling after traumatic events such as death or divorce, these women will experience less psychological disturbances.
Keywords: Psychological disturbance, Differentiation, Bereavement reaction, Attributional styles, Mothers headed of household

Funding: This study did not have any funds.
Conflict of interest: None declared.
Ethical considerations: The Ethics Committee of Islamic Azad University of Central Tehran branch approved this study (IR.IAU.CTB.REC.1402.094).
Authors’ contributions:
- Conceptualization: Elham Bozorg
- Methodology: Elham Bozorg
- Data collection: Elham Bozorg
- Formal analysis: Elham Bozorg
- Supervision: Farnaz Keshavarzi Arshadi
- Project administration: Farnaz Keshavarzi Arshadi
- Writing – original draft: Farnaz Keshavarzi Arshadi, Elham Bozorg
- Writing – review & editing: Farnaz Keshavarzi Arshadi, Elham Bozorg