Psychological, social and cultural aspects of unconsummated marriage

Abstract EN

Objective: To clarify the psychological, social and cultural factors associated with unconsummated marriages in Jordan.

Patients and method: The study was conducted at the Prince Rashid Ben AI-Hassan Hospital between January 1999 and December 2000, which included all the patients presented to the psychiatric out-patient clinic with the chief complaint being unconsummated marriage, and in whom organic causes had been ruled out.

One hundred and sixteen couples were studied and compared with a control group of normal couples.

Results: The commonest age group affected were between 20-29 years (78%) with a mean age of 25.42 years, SD=4.48 (males) and 23.13 years, SD=4.38(females), most of whom were educated below secondary school education.

The delay in presentation was between 3-12 months in about 60% of cases and the majority had misconceptions about the cause of their problems; 63.7% of patients attributing their problem to magic and 17.24% to Jinn possession.

The primary diagnosis of sexual dysfunction in men, were premature ejaculation (25.86%) and erectile dysfunction (22.41%), while in women was vaginismus (65.51%) and in about (13.8%) of cases both partners were affected.

The commonest fear among men was fear of failure (66%), and in women fear of pain (47%) and fear of bleeding (34%).

Most marriages were traditionally arranged (63.8%) {51.7% control group}, and most couples had little contact during engagement (58%){49% control group},both of which did not reach a statistical significance.

The majority (76.7%) {62.9% control group, P=.022} of patients had spent their wedding night at their primary family home, (27.6%) {37.1% control, P=.

123} of patients had experience of foreplay before sexual intercourse, (56.9%) of the brides had to move to a different town which was higher than in the control group (47.4%)but did not reach a statistical significance (P=.148).

In about (28.4%) {17.2% control group, P=.042}of patients an immediate confirmation of consummation was required by the family.

Only (10.34%) of patients revealed history of past sexual experience (all were males), which was slightly lower than among the control group.

(12.9%)(all were males) and about (38.8%) of patients had previous history of medical treatment for their problem; in contrast, (83.6%) had previous history of contact with healers.

Conclusions: unconsummated marriage is a serious problem, which has adverse marital and social consequences, the causes of which include interaction of multiple factors, mainly psychological, social and cultural, which emphasizes the need for better education and awareness concerning this issue at both family and social levels.