Relationship between Sex Roles and Marital Instability: The Moderating Role of Orientation in the Sexual Relationship among Women

Abstract: This study aimed to determine the relationship between sex roles and marital instability and the moderating role played by orientation in women’s sexual relationship. This correlational study is conducted on women living in Tehran. Additionally, 150 people were selected by convenience sampling from different parts of Tehran, who completed questionnaires on marital instability, sex roles and orientation in a sexual relationship. The results showed that orientation in a sexual relationship, except for communal orientation in the role of femininity in women, has a moderating role between sex roles and marital instability. In all cases, greater communal orientation in a sexual relationship reduces the instability of marriage in women. Also, a higher exchange orientation in a sexual relationship increases the instability of marriage in women. Additionally, greater demand in a sexual relationship, except when masculinity is high in women, heightens marital instability in women. In women with higher levels of communal exchange and demand orientation in a sexual relationship, increased sex roles (masculinity or femininity) reduce instability, and in women with lower levels of demand and exchange in sex, increased sex roles (masculinity or femininity) do not change the degree of marital instability. Based on this, the findings of this study can be used to monitor and increase the stability of marriage in Iranian society.