Body image and its relationship to marital compatibility - a comparative study between sterile and childbearing women in the city of Damascus

Abstract

The current research aimed to find out the relationship in body image and compatibility - a comparative study between sterile and giving birth in the city of Damascus, where the sample consisted of (80) women, by (40) sterile women and (40) childbearing women, whose ages ranged between (25- 40) years old. For this purpose, the body image scale and the marital compatibility scale were used. The descriptive approach and appropriate statistical methods were used to verify    

the psychometric properties of the two tools, and to answer the research hypotheses.

The research resulted in the following results: There is a positive correlation between body image and marital compatibility among women who have given birth, and a significant negative relationship between body image and marital compatibility among women who have not given birth. The results also showed statistically significant differences in each of the body image and marital compatibility between pregnant women and non-fertile women, and these results came in favor of women who have children. There were also differences between non-fertile women in body image and marital compatibility due to the duration of infertility, education level, and age. The age and duration of sterility were more painful than the low level of body image and marital compatibility among sterile women. At the end of the research, a set of proposals were presented to support the psychological and physical health of non-bearing women.