title: Gender-based sexual roles: A mixed methods study in Iranian families.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Gender role attitudes toward sexual matters may define suitable and appropriate roles for men and women during a sexual relationship. This study aimed to explore and assess gender-based sexual roles in Iranian families.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was an exploratory mixed methods study in which perceptions and experiences of 21 adult Iranian participants about gender-based sexual roles have been explored in three provinces of Iran in 2010-2011, to generate items for developing a culture-oriented instrument to assess gender role attitudes. The developed and validated instrument, then, was applied to 390 individuals of general population of Tehran, Iran in 2012.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In content analysis of the qualitative phase data, four categories emerged as the main gender-based sexual roles: Decision making, relationships, care, and supervision and control. After passing the stages of item reduction, seven items remained for the instrument. In the quantitative phase, results showed that most of the participants (78.9%) believed in shared sexual roles for both genders. Consideration of a sexual role as "entirely masculine" or "preferably masculine" was the second prevalent attitude in 71.43% of gender-based sexual roles, whereas "entirely" or "preferably feminine role" was the second next most dominant attitude (14.28%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of the present study have revealed some new gender-based sexual roles within Iranian families; which may be applicable to show the capacity for achieving some domains of reproductive rights in Iran.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Education and Promotion, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Hasan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Eftekhar
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Research Group, Health Metrics Research Center, Iranian Institute for Health Sciences Research, ACECR, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Montazeri
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Surgical Nursing, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Alireza Nikbakht
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Nasrabadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran ; Knowledge Utilization Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Saharnaz
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nedjat
authors.affiliation: Department of Educational Psychology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Yousef
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Karimi
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproductive Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran ; Department of Public Health, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran.
authors.forename: Setareh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Homami
keywords: Attitude; Iran; gender role; sexuality