Sexual satisfaction and intimacy during pregnancy and after childbirth

Abstract

Influential on women's sexual behavior and function, pregnancy plays a significant role along with intimacy in health, quality of life, and well-being. This phenomenon, in turn, is influenced by psychological, physiological, and marital relations as well as sociocultural effects. Therefore, the goal of this study was to investigate the roles of women's sexual satisfaction and intimacy after pregnancy and childbirth. In order to examine this goal, eight-month pregnant women in Shiraz, Iran, were selected during 2017 and 2018 for descriptive and causal-comparative analysis. Data were collected at two stages during pregnancy and eight months after delivery and measured using the Sexual Satisfaction Questionnaire (LSSQ; Larson et al., 1998) and the Marital Intimacy Needs Questionnaire (Bagarozzi, 1997). The data analyses reported descriptive and inferential statistics. The outcome of the current research has shown that sexual intimacy, physical intimacy, and aesthetic intimacy were significantly different between pregnancy phase (higher scores) and after delivery. Additionally, sexual satisfaction was rated significantly different pre and post-delivery, which can indicate that women and their sexual partners should be aware of the impact of healthy sexual intimacy during and after childbirth.