Abstract

This study of married couples examined the relationship between perceptions of attachment related family-of-origin experiences and sexual satisfaction directly and when mediated by marital quality. The sample consisted of 3,953 married couples who responded to the RELATionship Evaluation (RELATE). The nested model showed that more positive overall family-of-origin experiences and parent-child relationships were related to higher sexual satisfaction. When adding marital quality as a mediator, overall family-of-origin experience and the parent-child relationship were predictive of higher sexual satisfaction when mediated by marital quality but removed most direct effects to sexual satisfaction. There was a strong positive relationship between marital quality and sexual satisfaction. No major gender differences emerged and more than 50% of the variance in sexual satisfaction was explained by the full model for both males and females. Results suggest that family-of-origin experiences play an important role in the sexual satisfaction of married couples, especially when mediated by marital quality, and should be considered in treatment, education, and research.

Degree

MS

College and Department

Family, Home, and Social Sciences; Family Life; Marriage and Family Therapy

Rights

http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2010-07-07

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd3719

Keywords

family-of-origin, marital quality, sexual satisfaction, attachment

Language

English

Download

Share

COinS