A Mediating Role of Marital Intimacy in the Relationship between Self Differentiation and Attachment Styles with Sexual Satisfaction in the Female Nurses

 Nurses form an important stratum in any society, and due to the large and tedious workload, in some cases, they cannot solve the problems related to marital and sexual life well. This can lead to a decrease in the quality of their marital relationship, so it is important to determine the level of sexual satisfaction and the factors that affect it. The aim of this study was to investigate the mediating role of marital intimacy in the relationship between self-differentiation and attachment styles with sexual satisfaction in female nurses in Yazd hospitals in 1396 years.

 The present study was an analytical study of structural equation modeling. The statistical population was all female nurses of hospitals in Yazd in 2019; 200 of them were selected using a multistage cluster sampling method. In this research, Skowron and Friedlander’s self-differentiation questionnaire (1998), Collins & Read’s attachment questionnaire (1990), Walker & Thompson’s marital intimacy questionnaire (1983), and Hudson, Harrison & Kruskapp’s sexual satisfaction questionnaire (1981) were adopted for data collection. Pearson’s correlation test, using SPSS-21 software, and structural equation modeling using Amos-24 software, were used to analyze the data.

 The findings showed that secure attachment (P < 0.001), avoidant attachment (P < 0.01), and marital intimacy (P < 0.001) have a significant direct effect on sexual satisfaction. Also, avoidant (P < 0.01) and ambivalent (P < 0.05) attachment has a direct and significant effect on marital intimacy. Avoidant (P < 0.01) and ambivalent (P < 0.05) attachment has an indirect effect on sexual satisfaction through marital intimacy. The indirect effect of self-differentiation and secure attachment through marital intimacy on sexual satisfaction is not statistically significant (P<0.05). Also, the direct effect of self-differentiation and secure attachment on marital intimacy is not significant (P<0.05).

 The use of effective education for the enhancement of nurses’ attachment style and marital intimacy can help to improve and increase the nurses' sexual satisfaction and therapists can also achieve desired results using these strategies.