Factors that influence marital intimacy: A qualitative analysis of iranian married couples

Figures & data

Table 1. Demographic information of the intimate couples

No	Pseudonym	Age	Gender	Number of Children	Length of Marriage (years)	Job
Couple 1	Mani	34	M	3	5	Bank Employee and university student
	Freshteh	30	F	3	5	Housewife
Couple 2	Pegah	28	F	1	5	Language teacher
	Reza	37	M	1	5	Doctor
Couple 3	Mahdi	31	M	3	6	Math teacher
	Golnaz	32	F	3	6	Auditor and university students
Couple 4	Narges	27	F	2	5	University student
	Mohammad	29	M	2	5	University student- Car designer
Couple 5	Sina	28	M	2	5	Salesperson and university student
	Elham	32	F	2	5	University student
Couple 6	Zahra	32	F	4	8	Lab technician
	Mobin	39	M	4	8	Manager of a company
Couple7	Nazila	26	F	2	5	Jobless-Housewife
	Ali	30	M	2	5	Jeweler

Table 2. Frequency analysis

Domains, categories, subcategories
1.Family a. Family interaction 1. Intimacy can be learnt through interaction with parents and other family members 2. Interactions within the family determine the perceptions about intimacy and expectation about an intimate spouse b. Family serves as an intimacy model 1. Model can be used to predict the behavior in later relationship 2. Models that parents present reflect their efficiency	General Typical Typical Variant
2. Shared Time and Marital Relationship Length a. Quantity of the shared time is fundamental to togetherness b. Quality of the shared time is more important than quantity for togetherness c. Time needs to be allocated for togetherness d. Length of marriage can enhance different aspects associated to intimacy 1. Self-differentiation and valuing the differences 2. Commitment 3. Love 4. Scarification of personal needs	General Typical General Variant General Variant Typical
3. Reciprocity in self sacrifice a. Reciprocity in self-sacrifice encourage self-disclosure and togetherness 1. Unclear border between women’s sacrifice and their obligation discourage women to self-disclose themselves. 2. Iranian culture is more demanding and expecting woman to be more submissive to men 3. The strength of identification with Iranian heritage culture encourages sacrifice among the couples.	General General Variant Variant
4. Gratitude a. Gratitude is essential element fostering communication among couples. 1. Gratitude is barely practiced by Iranian Men as it is a stigma in patriarchal culture. 2. The culture of gratitude to women need to be fostered	General General Variant
3. New Shared Activity a. Changing the monotonous routines by involving in a new shared activity or leisure activity is vital to intimacy. 1. Activity does not need to be an extraordinary	General
4. Parenthood a. Children encourage cooperation and support in different activities and critical periods of time 1 Decisions about the children’s lives and education. 2. Division of labor 3. Supporting each other emotionally b. Children stabilize the spouse relationship 1. Discovering about the self and the spouse 2. Increasing commitment, family cohesion 3. Decreasing relational conflict 4. Encouraging self-sacrifice c. Children cause relational conflict and anxiety 1. Increasing financial distresses, arguments over rearing, and nurturing the children d. Children affect shared time 1. Limiting time for being together and communicate 2. Encouraging the parents to spend more time together e. Children negatively affect proximity and energy 1. lack of physical or emotional attendance to each other a. More frustration for women due to child-associated tasks 2. lack of the sexual engagement	Typical Typical Typical Variant General Typical General Variant Variant Variant Typical Typical Variant
5. Joint Social Networks a. Common friends have positive impact on the marital relationship and intimacy 1. Enhancing Well-being 2. Providing an enjoyable experience 3. Improving life associated skills and incorporate experience to life a. Lack of opportunity to learn the skills in some Iranian families b. Individual friends have negative impact on the marital relationship and intimacy 1. Decreasing sense of togetherness a. Wasting the time and energy of husband or wife 2. Causing relational conflict a. Causing anxiety and depression b. Affect the opinion of husband or wife	General Typical Typical Variant General Typical Typical
6. Religion a. Religion facilitates communication between the couples b. Religious commitment is associated different aspects of intimacy 1.Increasing marital adjustment 2.Limiting any romantic relationships which were outside of religious norms 3.Encouraging couple’s responsibility to change for a better person 4.Encouraging couples to decrease their conflict 5.Religious men preserve and support the family	Typical General General Typical Variant General

Table

Date	Event	My reflection