نویسندگان:

¹گروه روانشناسی، واحد خمینی شهر، دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی، خمینی شهر، ایران

²استادیار، گروه روان شناسی و آموزش افراد با نیاز‌های خاص، دانشکده علوم تربیتی و روان‌شناسی، دانشگاه اصفهان، اصفهان، ایران.

چکیده فارسی: ازدواج‌های خویشاوندی به عنوان یکی از الگو‌های رایج در برخی فرهنگ‌ها با پیامد‌های اجتماعی و روان‌شناختی متنوعی همراه هستند. این پژوهش با هدف کشف عوامل مؤثر بر نارضایتی زناشویی در ازدواج‌ های خویشاوندی انجام گرفت. روش پژوهش حاضر کیفی و گردآوری داده‌ها از طریق مصاحبه نیمه ساختار یافته انجام گرفت.بود. مشارکت‌کنندگان بالقوه در پژوهش شامل تمام زوجین دارای ازدواج خویشاوندی بود که به دلیل مشکلات زندگی زناشویی به مراکز خدمات روان‌شناسی و مشاوره شهر اصفهان در سال 1404 مراجعه کرده بودند. روش نمونه‌گیری، هدفمند و پس مصاحبه با 10 زوج، داده‌ها به اشباع رسید. تحلیل داده‌ها با استفاده از روش تحلیل مضمون (2001)Attride-Stirling انجام شد و مضامین در سه دسته پایه، سازمان دهنده و فراگیر دسته‌بندی شدند. بر اساس نتایج حاصل از پژوهش، مضامین پایه شامل 102 مفهوم، مضامین سازمان دهنده شامل 17 مفهوم و مضامین فراگیر در 6 مفهوم تحت عناوین عوامل فردی، ساختار خانواده خویشاوندی، عوامل فرهنگی، عدم صمیمیت جنسی و عاطفی، تکرار بین‌نسلی الگو‌های آسیب‌زای خانوادگی و عدم تجربه شناختی خارج از خانواده شناسایی و استخراج گردید. شناخت عوامل مؤثر بر نارضایتی زناشویی در ازدواج‌های خویشاوندی می‌تواند در در کاهش تعارضات و ارتقای رضایت زناشویی و تقویت مداخلات مشاوره‌ای متناسب با ویژگی‌های ازدواج خویشاوندی، کمک‌کننده باشد باشد.

From Blood Ties to Emotional Rupture: Discovering Factors Affecting Marital Dissatisfaction in Consanguineous Marriages

English Abstract: Introduction One of the most common types of marriage in many traditional societies, especially in the Middle East, South Asia, and North Africa, is consanguineous marriage (i.e., a marriage between two individuals who are closely related by blood (e.g., cousins or other close relatives; Popescu et al., 2025). Most studies on consanguineous marriages have focused on the genetic and medical aspects of these types of marriages (Saleem et al., 2025), and research results have shown that consanguineous marriages can be associated with an increased risk of genetic diseases, birth defects, recurrent miscarriage, and infertility (Jameel et al., 2024). However, the psychological, social, and marital dimensions of this type of marriage, especially in the context of marital satisfaction or dissatisfaction, have received less scientific and systematic attention (Akhtar & Alyana, 2023). Marital dissatisfaction is a multidimensional concept that refers to a negative subjective experience and feeling of dissatisfaction with the marriage. This feeling can manifest in emotional, relational, sexual, economic, or family role areas. It can lead to consequences such as decreased intimacy, frequent conflicts, feelings of worthlessness, and ultimately emotional or legal divorce (Kim & Kwon, 2024). In consanguineous marriages, although previous ties between families, relative recognition, and cultural compatibility may initially help reduce the tensions regarding selecting the spouse, these types of marriage carry specific structural complexities that reinforce marital dissatisfaction (Ebid et al., 2021). Despite having a historical and cultural basis, consanguineous marriages in many traditional societies, including Iran, are associated with multiple consequences in biological, social, and psychological dimensions. The necessity of conducting this research study is due, on the one hand, to the existing scientific gaps in the field of comprehensive and interdisciplinary examination of the quality of marital relationships in consanguineous marriages, and, on the other hand, to the urgent need to design preventive and corrective interventions at the family and community levels. Therefore, the present study attempts to discover and explain the factors affecting marital dissatisfaction in consanguineous marriages with a comprehensive and analytical perspective.   Methodology In this study, a qualitative approach and thematic analysis were used to discover the factors affecting marital dissatisfaction in consanguineous marriages. The statistical population included all consanguineous couples who had been referred to psychological and counseling service centers in Isfahan in 2025 due to marital problems. Purposive sampling was used to select the sample, and data saturation was achieved with 10 couples. The inclusion criteria were consanguineous marriage (close relatives), referral to psychological service centers due to marital problems, at least two years of marriage, and written consent to participate in the project. The exclusion criteria included inability to provide appropriate answers and unwillingness to cooperate. A researcher-made semi-structured interview was used to collect data. To analyze and interpret the interview data, Attride-Stirling’s (2001) thematic analysis method was used, which classifies themes into three levels: basic, organizing, and global. Data validation was performed to ensure accuracy, robustness, and acceptability of the codes using Guba and Lincoln’s (1982) four criteria (i.e., credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability).    Findings The analysis of the interviews showed that the phenomenon of marital dissatisfaction in consanguineous marriages occurs at three interconnected levels: individual-psychological (internal factors including lack of personal communication skills and lack of sexual-emotional intimacy), interpersonal-familial (intertwined structure of consanguineous families and intergenerational repetition of ineffective communication patterns on couples’ interactions), and macro-cultural (cultural pressures to maintain loyalty to the kinship network and cognitive limitations resulting from lived in-group experience). These three levels, in dynamic interaction, create a unique ecosystem of marital challenges in consanguineous marriages.             Conclusion The present study was conducted to discover the factors affecting marital dissatisfaction in consanguineous marriages. In Iranian culture, consanguineous marriages have continued for legitimate reasons and cultural logic, such as maintaining family ties. However, the findings of this study show that in the face of social changes and lifestyle changes, these unique characteristics become a harm-causing factor. The key point is the vicious cycle pattern that governs this type of marriage: the structure of the consanguineous family transmits harmful communication patterns between generations (intergenerational repetition); these patterns lead to sexual and emotional dissatisfaction, and then the culture that governs the kinship network prevents exiting from this cycle by creating forced loyalty. Therefore, marital dissatisfaction in this context is not only the result of a set of problems but also the result of an interconnected system in which each factor reinforces the other factors. This systematic explanation could explain why, despite obvious problems, many of these marriages continue formally; the pressure of the system (the kinship network) is so strong that even in the presence of deep dissatisfaction, the dissolution of the relationship entails high psychosocial costs. Conducting longitudinal studies to examine the long-term impact of the identified factors on the continuation or collapse of marital relationships, focusing on gender differences to shed more light on the hidden dimensions of marital dissatisfaction, and using mixed methods to measure the intensity and frequency of the discovered factors are among the suggestions for further research. Designing and implementing premarital educational programs specifically for families that prefer consanguineous marriages, and developing public awareness programs at the university and media levels about the positive and negative consequences of consanguineous marriages are among the practical implications of the study.   Conflict of Interest No conflict of interest has been declared by the authors.    Acknowledgements The researchers thank all participants for participating in the research study.