en Educational Studies پژوهشي Original <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color:#669933;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="line-height:2;"><b>Objective:</b> Sexual self-concept is considered one of the key components of sexual health, and scholars have consistently emphasized identifying the factors that shape and predict it. The present study aimed to investigate the mediating role of emotional processing in the relationship between self-criticism and sexual self-concept among married individuals.<br> <b>Methods</b>: This applied and developmental research employed a descriptive&ndash;correlational design. The statistical population included all married clients who visited family counseling centers in Tehran during the spring of 2022, from which a sample of 322 participants was selected using convenience sampling. Data were collected using the Self-Criticism/Self-Reassurance Scale (Gilbert et al., 2004), the Emotional Processing Scale (Baker et al., 2010), and the Multidimensional Sexual Self-Concept Questionnaire (Snell, 1995). Pearson correlation and structural equation modeling were used for data analysis with SPSS (version 27) and AMOS (version 24).<br> <b>Results</b>: The findings showed a significant negative relationship between self-criticism and emotional processing (p < .05, &beta; = &minus;0.58). Self-criticism did not have a significant direct relationship with sexual self-concept (p > .05), while emotional processing showed a significant negative relationship with sexual self-concept (p < .05, &beta; = &minus;0.47). Moreover, emotional processing significantly mediated the relationship between self-criticism and sexual self-concept (p < .05), with an indirect effect size of 0.272.<br> <b>Conclusions</b>: These results suggest that emotional processing plays an important mediating role in how self-criticism relates to the sexual self-concept of married individuals. Future research should examine additional contributing factors using diverse samples and alternative measurement tools.</span></span></span></span></div> Self-criticism, Emotional processing, Sexual self-concept 0 0 http://ijer.hormozgan.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-403-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Toran Khodayi toran.khodayi@gmail.com 0000-0002-2369-782X No Master of Science in General Psychology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran Mohammad Arash Ramezani Arash98@gmail.com 0000-0002-0973-8357 Yes Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran