Sexual Behaviors and Its Predictors among Iranian Women Living in Kashan City 2017: A Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND: Women’s sexual well-being has been the center of attention in the field of sexology. Study of sexual behavior and investigating its predictors are important for women’s health promotion. This study aimed to explore the components of women’s sexual behaviors and their possible associations with demographic variables. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was a cross-sectional study (descriptive and analytic) that was conducted in Kashan city, Iran. A National Sexual Behavior Assessment Questionnaire was completed by 500 women of 15 to 49 who referred to the public health centers. To analyze the data, R software was used, ANOVA or Kruskal-Wallis (for parametric or nonparametric data, respectively) were used to compare outcomes among different groups. In order to evaluate the correlation between the subscales, the Pearson correlation coefficient was used. RESULTS: From all participants, 31.8% obtained high scores in the sexual capacity, 21.2% had high scores in sexual motivation and 0.2% had high scores in sexual function. In sexual script component, 86.2% of women who held traditional beliefs toward sexual behaviors; the majority (91.5%) of women believed in mutual and relational sexuality, 83.4% believed in androcentricity (male-dominated sexuality). Pearson correlation test showed a significant positive correlation between sexual capacity, motivation, function and sexual script. Linear Regression model showed that sexual capacity is associated with women’s education and age of her spouse. Sexual function and sexual motivation were significantly associated with the age of subjects' spouses. CONCLUSION: In this study, subjects had low scores in sexual performance while higher scores were achieved in sexual capacity and motivation. This discrepancy can be attributed to the role of sexual scripts dominating the participants’ sexual interactions in this study. We suggest gender-specific and culturally-sensitive education should become a part of women’s health programs in Iran.