Qualitative Analysis of the Underlying Factors for Extramarital Relationships in Women Experiencing Extramarital Relationships : A Qualitative Study

The goal of this study was to qualitatively analyze the factors underlying extramarital relationships in women with extramarital relationships.

The goal of the present study is applied, and in terms of the methodology is a qualitative research. The target population are women referring to counseling centers in city of Yazd witha history of marital infidelity, from which 15  people were selected as a sample through convenient sampling and a  semi-structured interview was used. Decoding was performed using thematic analysis method.

The results showed that the underlying factors of extramarital relationships can be identified in three dimensions. In the dimension of family and culture, two main themes were obtained, which included family and parenting style and gender-cultural schemas. Also, in the dimension of interpersonal issues, three main themes including self-esteem, feelings of inferiority and cohesion of personality and behavior were obtained.In the dimension of interpersonal issues, the main themes included relationship challenges and outward looks criteria.

Extramarital relationships from the perspective of women are influenced by cultural, educational, and early years’ schemas experiences. Results also showed that extramarital relationships is a multidimentional construct that cannot be only related to psychological factors. So, for knowing the the underlying factors attention must also be given to cultural diversity in Iran.