The Role of Social Exchange Theory in Predicting Unconsummated Marriage

Given that sexual problem are multifactorial, and a few studies have been done from the point of view of social psychology, the aim of this research was to investigate the role of social exchange theory in predicting unconsummated marriage.

This descriptive study was correlational, and statistical population was composed of all women who referred to sexual clinics of Tehran city, among whom 220 women were selected through cluster sampling method as the study sample. The research tools included Multidimensional Vaginal Penetration Disorder Questionnaire (Molaie Nezhad, et al., 2014) and Social Exchange Styles Scale (Leybman et al., 2011).

The results showed that tracking style (r=0/244, p= 0/001), individualism (r=-0/283, p= 0/001), and benefit-seeking styles (r= -0/289, p= 0/001) had significant positive correlation, and fairness (r=0/277, p= 0/0001) and overinvestment (r=0/379, p= 0/0001) had significant negative relationship with unconsummated marriage disorder. Also, the results of multivariate regression showed that only the fairness style predicts 40% of the variance of unconsummated marriage disorder.

Given that social exchange styles, especially the fairness style, are effective in the treatment of unconsummated marriage, appropriate training in this field can be helpful in family sustainability.