Sexual Knowledge and Attitude among Girls Who are Getting Married Based on the Information from Yas Pre-marriage Counseling Center.

BACKGROUND: High prevalence of sexual dysfunction results from inadequate knowledge or inappropriate attitude toward the natural phenomenon of sexual desire. This study aimed to define sexual knowledge and attitude among girls who were getting married and referred to Yas pre-marriage counseling center.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This research was a descriptive analytical study. The information of 165 girls, who were about to get married, were collected through convenient sampling using a researcher-made questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 16 software. Inferential statistical method and Pearson correlation were used for data analysis.
RESULTS: Results showed that the mean scores of sexual knowledge and attitude among the participants were 57.42 and 69.02, respectively. There was a significant association between the mean scores of sexual knowledge and sexual attitude (P < 0.001, r = 0.63).
CONCLUSIONS: Results showed that the participants had relatively appropriate knowledge and attitude toward sexual relationship.

Introduction

Currently, the prevalence of sexual dysfunction is high in all countries, and this disorder would have a great effect on couples' quality of life, mood, and social activities. Approximately 31.5% of women in Iran have at least one sexual dysfunction.[1] Many factors impact the incidence of sexual dysfunction such as mental health, infertility, chronic diseases, pregnancy, and postpartum period.[2] In addition, the level of information about and the attitude toward sexuality are other important factors that affect the incidence of sexual problems.[3] Considering the effective role of sexual disorders in the mental health of families, determining predictive factors such as premarital knowledge and attitude toward sexual relationship is necessary for planning preventive measures about sexual problems after marriage. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess sexual knowledge and attitude among girls who were getting married and referred to Yas pre-marriage counseling center.

Materials and Methods

This descriptive analytical study was conducted in 2015. The minimum sample size was calculated to be 165; the study participants were selected through convenient sampling. Data were collected through a researcher-made questionnaire containing questions regarding demographic characteristics and knowledge and attitude. The questionnaires were completed by the participants in a quiet place at Yas premarital counseling center after providing written consent; this process lasted for 2 months. The inclusion criterion was having Iranian nationality, and the exclusion criterion was filling the questionnaires incompletely. A score of 50 or more was considered appropriate for the variables of awareness and attitude. Content validity and reliability of the questionnaire was approved by the academic members of the midwifery faculty with a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.8. We applied the Statistical Package for Social Sciences SPSS Version 16.0 (Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) for data analysis.

Ethical considerations

Ethical considerations were respected by obtaining permission from the vice-chancellery for research in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, ethics committee, vice-chancellery for health, and Yas pre-marriage counseling center, as well as by obtaining a written consent from the subjects. Researcher conducted sampling alone due to specific condition of the subjects during the entire study and tried to keep subjects' information confidential. The subjects could leave the study whenever they wanted to.

Results

Results showed that the mean (SD) age of participants was 24.35 (5.18) years; they were mostly urban residents (90.9%), had an average economic condition (51.5%), had a university degree (60.6%), and were housewives (55.2%). This study revealed that the mean scores of sexual knowledge and attitude were 57.42 and 69.02, respectively. There was a significant association between the participants' mean scores of sexual knowledge and sexual attitude (P < 0.001, r = 0.63) [Table 1].

Table 1

Pearson correlation coefficient between participants’ sexual knowledge and sexual attitude

Discussion

Premarital educational classes could, along with increasing the information of the youth, evaluate the level of sexual knowledge and attitude for planning mental health improvement programs because families' different performances and feedbacks regarding sexuality and issues such as age, sex, culture and society, are factors that affect knowledge and attitude. Results showed that the participants of the present study had an appropriate level of knowledge and attitude toward sexual relationships. Veiser et al. (2014) also reported a favorable attitude toward sexual activities. Their participants stated that gaining sexual knowledge is associated with having successful sexual relationships.[4] Lack of proper information about sexual functioning is the main problem in sexual dysfunctions. Although nowadays this issue is partly solved due to higher cultural and educational levels, still many sexual tensions could be associated with low levels of information.[5] The present study also revealed a significant association between sexual knowledge and sexual attitude among the participants; implying that girls who had more sexual knowledge also had better attitude. Tisang et al. (2015) mentioned that, to optimally increase the sexual attitude among girls who are about to get married, increase in sexual knowledge is necessary because appropriate sexual education for couples would create healthy beliefs.[6] Ability to understand different participants of some questions related to sexual activity, despite clarity of the questionnaire was limitation at the present study.

Conclusion

Determining the sexual knowledge and attitude among girls who are getting married could be helpful in planning sex education classes during pre-marriage counseling to prevent sexual disorders.

Financial support and sponsorship

This article is derived from research project (No. 293115). The researchers would like to thank Isfahan University of Medical Sciences.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.