A Structural Equation Model to Explain Marital Burnout: Pornography Consumption and Perfectionism With Mediating Role of Sexual Self-Concept

With the development of technology and easy access to a variety of content in Internet, the pornography consumption along with individual characteristics can be one of the factors affecting couples' relationship. This study aimed to assess the role of pornography consumption and sexual perfectionism with mediating role of sexual self-concept on marital burnout among university students in Iran.

The research method was cross-sectional and correlation study. The sample of this study consisted of married students of Islamic Azad University, of which 210 answered online to Pornography Consumption Inventory (PCI- Reid, et al., 2011), The Multidimensional sexual Self-Concept Questionnaire (MSSCQ-Snell, 1998), Multidimensional Sexual Perfectionism Questionnaire (MSPQ- Snell, 2011), and Couple Burnout Measure (Pines, 1996).  The questionnaire of PCI and MSSCQ were translated into Persian for the first time and were used after confirming the validity and reliability. Correlation coefficients (using SPSS software) and path analysis (using LISREL statistical software) were used to investigate the variables of the couple burnout prediction model.

The results showed that positive sexual self-concept was not related to marital burnout and only negative self-concept was positively related to marital burnout. There was no direct relationship between pornography and marital burnout, but there was a positive relationship with the mediating role of negative sexual self-concept. Sexual perfectionism was positively associated with marital burnout.  Negative sexual self-concept also mediated between sexual perfectionism and marital burnout.  

The results indicated that high sexual perfectionism was associated with higher marital burnout and individual with negative sexual self-concept under the influence of pornography and high sexual perfectionism were more prone to marital burnout.