Sexual dysfunction, depression, and marital dissatisfaction among Brazilian couples

Health professionals treating sexual dysfunction and relational dissatisfaction recognize that they are multifactorial phenomena, and depression can be bidirectionally associated with both. The purpose of this study was to investigate sexual dysfunction in heterosexual couples in relation to the quality of their marital relationship and depression symptoms. The sample consisted of 100 heterosexual couples recruited in Brazil. Both partners of each couple completed the Golombok-Rust Inventory of Sexual Satisfaction and the Golombok-Rust Inventory of Marital Satisfaction, which were translated and adapted, and the Beck Depression Inventory, which was validated for the Brazilian population. Both partners completed their questionnaires separately, and the couple's surveys were linked to preserve conjugal data for dyadic analysis. The Actor-Partner Interdependence Model was used to understand how sexual dysfunction in couples is related to depression and relationship quality among and between partners. Sexual dysfunction was found to be strongly associated with dissatisfaction in the relationship (husbands, β = 0.57, P