Mediating Role of Marital Intimacy in the Relationship between Love Attitudes and Marital Satisfaction among Married Women and Men in Songor, Kermanshah Province of Iran

The present study investigates the mediating role of marital intimacy in the relationship between attitudes toward love and marital satisfaction in married men and women.  The statistical population of this study included married men and women in Songor, of whom 174 participants were chosen by convenience sampling. The data were collected using the Love Attitude, Bagarozi Marital Intimacy (2001), and Enrich Marital Satisfaction (1989) questionnaires and analyzed by structural equation modeling using PLS3 software. The results showed that only the components of Eros (β = 0.66 and P <0.001) and Agape (β = 0.31 and P <0.001) were significantly and positively associated with marital satisfaction. In addition, marital intimacy was found to be a mediator for the Eros (β = 0.49 and P <0.001) and Agape (β = 0.31 and P <0.001) components but not for the other components of the love style. This finding highlighted the mediating role of marital intimacy in the relationship between love and marital satisfaction; therefore, it should be taken into account for promoting marital relationships. Our findings also underlined the need to pay more attention to marital intimacy among couples.