Gender and Age Differences in Marital Intimacy Levels among Iranian Married Couples in Malaysia

Abstract

This study aimed to establish the differences in marital Intimacy based on gender and age variables. Subjects for this study were 257 married couples (131 females and 126 males aged 25 to 50 years) from 4 public university in Malaysia. The collecting data for the study were through the use of quantitative method. The instrument used was Personal Assessment of Intimacy in Relationships (PAIR) questionnaire to measure marital intimacy level and demographic form for collecting demographic data. The results illustrated the intimacy level of females was higher than men. Statistically, the male and female students significantly differed in their intimacy scores. Also, there is significant differences between Intimacy level and age among married couples. In addition, general age differences in intimacy demonstrated older couples has higher level of intimacy. Consequently, implications of the study give valuable insight to the future use of couple therapist in society. Family therapists can work with couples for nurturing their intimacy thereby control and handling couples conflicts by knowing about spouses differences based on Gender and age differences.

Keywords: marital intimacy, gender, age, intimacy level, couples