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Aim and Background: Sexual dysfunction is one of the most common disorders among women and is usually associated with by a clinically significant disturbance in a person's ability to respond sexually or to experience sexual pleasure. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating role of cognitive emotion regulation in the relationship between childhood maltreatment and female sexual dysfunction.
Methods and Materials: The research was descriptive-correlational. Its statistical population included all married female students of Shahroud universities. Four hundred married female students in Shahroud universities were selected by multi-stage cluster sampling. Participants responded to the female sexual function index (FSFI), cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire (CERQ), and the self‑report measures of child abuse (CASRS). The present research data were analyzed using SPSS and LISREL software and structural equation modeling method.
Findings: The results of this study showed that there are a significant relation between childhood maltreatment, sexual dysfunction and cognitive emotion regulation. Also, cognitive emotion regulation mediated the relationship childhood maltreatment and female sexual dysfunction.
Conclusion: The results of the present study support the hypothesis that negative cognitive emotion regulation strategies mediate the relationship between childhood maltreatment and female sexual dysfunction.