Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Mar 29;9(4):e15049.
doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15049. eCollection 2023 Apr.

Complex factors related to marital and sexual satisfaction among couples undergoing infertility treatment: A cross-sectional study

Zeinab Hamzehgardeshi  1 , Alireza Khalilian  2 , Sepideh Peyvandi  3 , Forouzan Elyasi  4   5 , Fereshteh Kalantari  5 , Keshvar Samadaee Gelehkolaee  1
Affiliations

Complex factors related to marital and sexual satisfaction among couples undergoing infertility treatment: A cross-sectional study

Zeinab Hamzehgardeshi et al. Heliyon. .

Abstract

Objectives: This study assesses complex factors related to marital and sexual satisfaction among couples undergoing infertility treatment.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted with 140 couples who visited fertility centers in Iran, between September 2015 and July 2016. Data collection was done by Marital and Sexual Satisfaction Questionnaires and were analyzed by the IBM SPSS 26 software.

Results: There was a significant difference between wives and husbands in the MSQ total scores (p = 0.027). However, there was no significant difference between wives and husbands in the SSQ total scores (p = 0.398). Sexual satisfaction and decision-maker in life among wives and husbands were significant predictors of MSQ. The kind of treatment, cause of infertility and BMI among wives and kinds of treatment, cause of infertility, and decision-maker among husbands were also significant predictors of SSQ.

Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that there is a difference between the understanding of marital and sexual satisfaction in wives and their husbands. Healthcare providers need to pay more attention to these differences.

Keywords: Complex factors; Infertile couples; Marital satisfaction; Sexual satisfaction.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Influence factors in sexual and marital satisfaction based of stepwise regression in males (above) and females (below).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Van Der Merwe E., Greeff A.P. Infertility-related stress within the marital relationship. Int. J. Sex. Health. 2015;27(4):522–531. doi: 10.1080/19317611.2015.1067275. - DOI
    1. Vander Borght M., Wyns C. Fertility and infertility: definition and epidemiology. Clin. Biochem. 2018;62:2–10. doi: 10.1016/j.clinbiochem.2018.03.012. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Benksim A., Elkhoudri N., Addi R.A., Baali A., Cherkaoui M. Difference between primary and secondary infertility in Morocco: frequencies and associated factors. Int. J. Fert. Ster. 2018;12(2):142. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Petraglia F., Serour G.I., Chapron C. The changing prevalence of infertility. Int. J. Gynecol. Obstet. 2013;123(52):S4–S8. doi: 10.1016/j.ijgo.2013.09.005. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Abreu-Afonso J., Ramos M.M., Queiroz-Garcia I., Leal I. How couple's relationship lasts over time? A model for marital satisfaction. Psychol. Rep. 2022;125(3):1601–1627. doi: 10.1177/00332941211000651. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources