Social Determinants of Health and Quality of Sexual Life among Married Women in Behshahr, Iran, in 2023: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background and Aim: As one of the most intricate aspects of a woman’s life, sex involves psychosomatic, sociocultural, economic, and spiritual dimensions to the extent that it influences the health status of individuals and their family life. Given the utmost importance of the quality of sexual life, there is a dire need to address the social determinants of health, which largely develop by economy, social policies, and politics. So the present study reflected on the relationship between the social determinants of health, the quality of sexual life, and marital satisfaction. Materials and Methods Using a descriptive cross-sectional research design, this study was conducted on 380 statistical population of married women of reproductive age, referred to the healthcare centers in the city of Behshahr, Iran, in 2023. The tools used are: socio-demographic questionnaire, sexual-female quality of life, Enrich marital satisfaction, multidimensional scale of perceived social support. SPSS Statistics (version 22) and AMOS (version 24) software packages were used for statistical calculations according to the significance level of p ≤ 0.05. Descriptive indices, including mean, standard deviation, frequency, and percentage were used to quantify the data in this study. For inferential analysis, the assumption of normality of the study variables was further checked using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Pearson correlation coefficient was also utilized to find the correlation between the quantitative variables and multiple linear regression was operated to identify the major factors affecting the total score of the questionnaires and controlling the confounding variables. Results In total, 380 married women were included in the present study with the mean (standard deviation) age of 33.8 (5.31). The mean (standard deviation) of the sexual-female quality of life was also 90.92 ± 13.08, that of marital satisfaction was 162.16 ± 25.05, and this value for perceived social support was 48.63 ± 11.62. The study results demonstrated a significant direct correlation between marital satisfaction and the quality of sexual life (p < 0.004). Also the results revealed that husband’s educational attainment (p < 0.006), socioeconomic status (p < 0.001), and place of living (p < 0.048) were associated with the quality of sexual life score. And the results showed that occupation (p < 0.007) and vehicle type (p < 0.001) were significantly correlated with marital satisfaction. A significant direct relationship was spotted between marital satisfaction, the quality of sexual life, and perceived social support, but the relationship between the quality of sexual life and perceived social support was not significant. Conclusion Some social determinants of health, such as socioeconomic status, occupation, vehicle type, and quality of sexual life were found to be related to marital satisfaction. Identifying the social determinants of health and their impact on the quality of sexual life and marital satisfaction could thus help in developing effective interventions to reduce them and even providing coping strategies in the future and implementing them by trustees to improve sexual health in individuals, families, and the society.