Background: Marriage plays an important role in individuals' physical and mental health, and attitudes toward it have recently undergone significant shifts. Social intelligence (including empathy and understanding others' emotions) and opposite-sex relationships, as a context for gaining experience in intimacy, can influence attitudes toward marriage. This study aimed to investigate the association between social intelligence, opposite-sex relationships, and attitudes toward marriage among students of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran.
Methods: This descriptive-analytical, cross-sectional study was conducted on 415 students of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences (300 women and 115 men) in 2024, using stratified random sampling with proportional allocation. Data were collected through an online survey, comprising a demographic questionnaire, the Tromsø Social Intelligence Scale, the Sheikh-Darani et al. scale for attitudes toward opposite-sex relationships
(41 items), and the Brateen and Rosen Marital Attitude Scale. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics, Spearman correlation, and multiple linear regression via SPSS software.
Findings: The mean social intelligence score of students was 93.28 out of 139 (approximately 67% of the maximum score). Spearman correlation results showed a significant inverse relationship between social intelligence and attitudes toward marriage; that is, as social intelligence increased, positive attitude scores toward marriage decreased (r = −0.23, P < 0.001). In contrast, the simple correlation between opposite-sex relationships and attitudes toward marriage was not significant (P > 0.05). However, in the multiple linear regression model, social intelligence and opposite-sex relationships together explained approximately 30% of the variance in attitudes toward marriage. In this model, after controlling for the effect of social intelligence, opposite-sex relationships independently and significantly predicted attitudes toward marriage in a negative direction (β = −0.22, P < 0.001), indicating that higher scores on opposite-sex relationships were associated with lower scores of positive attitudes toward marriage.
Conclusion: Students' attitudes toward marriage are influenced by the interaction between individual characteristics and their social experiences. Higher social intelligence was associated with a more realistic (and less positive) attitude toward marriage. Opposite-sex relationships alone were not associated with attitudes toward marriage; however, after controlling for social intelligence, they independently predicted a decline in positive attitudes toward marriage. These findings underscore the necessity of designing educational and counseling programs to enhance students' awareness and communication skills.