The Relationship of Social Interest, Narcissism, and Marital Satisfaction: A Cross-Cultural Study in Iranian and Afghan Couples

The porpuse of this study was to compare two groups of Iranian and Afghan couples in social interest and narcissism, as well as, determining the relationship of these variables with marital satisfaction considering moderating role of nationality. This research was conducted by an expose-facto  design on a population including all 22 to 45 year-old Iranian and Afghan married couples living in Iran and Afghanistan with bachelore and master's digree. Among these population a final sample of 101 Iranian couples and 101  Afghan couples were selected by referring to 5 university centers in the Iran and 4 university centers in the Afghanistan and were asked to complete the research questionnaires. Students with a history of psychiatry or psychology interventions over the last year were excluded from the final list. The narcissism average scores of Afghan couples was significantly less than Iranian couples (8. 93 v. s 12. 01), while in social interest variable only a nonsignificant higher average score was observed (138. 71 v. s 123. 53). Marital satisfaction was significantly correlated to soscial-interest and narcissism in Afghan (0. 42, -0. 24) and Iranian (0. 38, -0. 24) couples. The results of this study indicated the lower  narcissism levels of Afghan couples rather than Iranian couples.
Marital satisfaction was strongly associated to social interest and narcissism in both Iranian and Afghan coupls. Considering this difference and association in understanding of their psychological problems seems necessary.