The relationship between sexual inhibition and sexual excitation with female sexual function: The mediating role of difficulty in emotion regulation

Sexual function is a multidimensional phenomenon affected by various biological-psychological and social factors. The present study aimed to investigate the mediating role of difficulty in emotion regulation in the association of sexual inhibition and sexual excitation with female sexual function. The participants of this study comprised 665 females serving in the administrative departments of Tehran and Tabriz universities, who were selected by convenience sampling. The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (2004), Sexual Excitation/Sexual Inhibition Inventory for Women (2006), and Female Sexual Functioning Index (1993) were employed to collect the data. In addition, SPSS (23 Ver.) and LISREL (8.8 Ver.) software packages were used for data analysis. The results of structural equation modeling indicated that sexual inhibition and sexual excitation, both directly and indirectly (emotion dysregulation), affect women’s sexual function. Evaluating the hypothetical model of the study employing the fitting indices revealed that the hypothetical model fits the measurement model (RFI = 0.98, NFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.032). Consistent with the dual control model, the results of this study showed that inhibition and sexual excitation affect the sexual function of women. In addition, the results showed that sexual inhibition and sexual excitation indirectly affect sexual function through difficulty in regulation emotion.