The Relationship between Childhood Sexual Abuse experiences and Marital Life Satisfaction and Sexual Performance in Iranian Married Women

Objectives The present study defines the experiences of childhood sexual abuse and attempts to explain the satisfaction with married life and sexual performance of Iranian married women. It examines the relationship between childhood sexual abuse experiences and satisfaction with married life and sexual performance of Iranian married women. Methods: The statistical population of the current study included all married women in Tehran province in 1400 with an age range of 18-50 years. According to the study population, 200 people were selected as the sample using the available sampling method and answered the Female Sexual Function Index by Rosen et al (2000), the Marital Satisfaction Questionnaire by Enrich (1989), and the Unwanted Childhood Sexual Experiences Questionnaire by Stevenson (1998). In the statistical method, the research hypotheses were tested according to the nature of the normally distributed research variables using Pearson's correlation coefficient and multivariate regression. Results: The results of the Pearson correlation showed that the experience of childhood sexual abuse had a negative and significant relationship with satisfaction with married life and the two components of sexual pain and sexual desire in the variable of sexual performance (p < 0.01). Also, the multivariate regression results showed that childhood sexual abuse experiences predicted marital life satisfaction. However, only the component of maximum contact in the childhood sexual abuse variable predicted the components of sexual pain and sexual desire in the sexual performance variable (p < 0.01). Conclusion: The experience of childhood sexual abuse in married Iranian women can affect their marital relationship and their sexual performance in the marital relationship. Therefore, efforts should be made to identify these people and consider appropriate psychological measures for their recovery; because in Iranian culture, most people conceal the incident out of social shame and fear of being dishonored.