The Relationship of Social Participation with Sexual Function and Satisfaction among Women of Reproductive Age

Background aim: Sexual satisfaction is one of the most important aspects of sexual function, and it plays an essential role in marital satisfaction. This study was conducted to evaluate the relationship of social participation with female sexual function and satisfaction at reproductive age. Methods: In this comparative descriptive study, the data was obtained from a total of 284 married Iranian women who were divided into two groups of women with and without sexual dysfunction (n=142 in each group). The participants were selected via multi-cluster sampling method from public health centers in Mashhad, Iran, in 2015. The data collection tools included a socio-demographic form, Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), and Keyes Social Health (Participation) Questionnaire. To analyze the data, descriptive statistics, Chi-square test, Mann-Whitney U test, Spearman s rank correlation coefficient, and multiple regression were used in SPSS, version 20. Results: The mean age in two groups were 32.5±7.9 (with sexual dysfunction) and 31.1±7.2 (without sexual dysfunction) years, respectively. There was significant differences between the two groups in terms of social participation, sexual function (P 0.001), and FSFI sub-scale scores including sexual desire (P 0.01), arousal (P 0.001), lubrication (P 0.001), orgasm (P 0.001), and satisfaction (P 0.001). However, there were no significant differences in social participation and subscale of pain (P 0.05) between the two groups. Conclusion: Higher scores in social participation were associated with more favorable female sexual function.