The age at which women and men marry has increased substantially in Iran during the past few decades. Among women, for example, the mean age at marriage increased from 19.7 in 1976 to 23.3 in 2006. 1 The proportion of women aged 20-24 who had never married was 21% in 1976, compared with about 50% in 2006 (80% in urban areas). 1,2 As a result of this change, the gap between puberty and marriage has increased considerably. Any relationships (particularly sexual ones) between men and women outside of marriage are socially, culturally, legally and religiously forbidden in Iran, and most Iranians consider it important that young people (especially females) abstain from any physical intimacy and sex until marriage.* However, recent evidence suggests that the prevalence of premarital relationships is rising among young people. If these relationships do not lead to marriage, the psychological, emotional and social consequences tend to be greater for females than for males, because of the double standards regarding male and female sexuality and the importance of virginity for young women's marriage prospects.The development of attitudes regarding heterosexual relationships and sexuality, and the learning of appropriate norms, both begin early in life, and these processes are influenced by the family environment and by the values and behaviors of parents and other family members. The family provides role models, a social and economic environment and standards of sexual conduct. 3 However, the specific dimensions of family life that influence the formation of sexual behavioral patterns among young people in Iran are not well understood.Because societal norms should be similar for most females in a particular society, variation among individuals in premarital heterosexual relationships and intimacy presumably is attributable primarily to individual and familial characteristics. Because many individual-level factors, such as attitudes and self-efficacy, are also influenced by an individual's behavior, the direction of causality is not always clear. However, factors related to family structure and function are less likely influenced by individual sexual behavior, and hence they can be considered determinants or predictors of sexual behaviors in cross-sectional studies. In this article, we aim to identify familial factors that are associated with premarital friendships and sex among a representative sample of female college students. Associations Between Family Factors and Premarital Heterosexual Relationships Among Female College Students in Tehran

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BackgroundPhysical activity (PA) rates decline among most high school female students, and due to cultural restrictions, the reduction of physical activity might be exacerbated in female Iranian adolescents.ObjectiveTo determine the effects of the physical activity education theory-based intervention to promote activity among adolescent girls.MethodsThis randomized clinical trial was conducted at public high schools in Tehran, Iran, from September 2015 to July 2016 on 578 girls. The subjects were assigned randomly to two groups of experiment and control (n=289 per group). All participants in the experimental group received an educational program based on a modified TPB. Measures were assessed before and 6 months after the experiment. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 23. We used descriptive statistics, multilevel analysis, Likelihood Ratio (LR) test, P-value less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant.ResultsFive hundred and seventy-eight participants with a mean age of 14.26±0.96 years were studied in two groups of experiment (n=289) and control (n=289). Moreover, adjusted for the baseline values, the mean of the scores of the knowledge (84.1±13.6), attitude (31.2±13.6), subjective norm (40.4±11.1), behavioral intention (34.3±14.7), perceived behavioral control (38.4±11.6), perceived parental control (42.9±14.2), behavioral (42.6±17.1) was significantly higher in the experiment group compared with the control group (p<0.001).ConclusionsThe results of this study implicate that theory based educational intervention is considered to be more effective in improving physical activity in adolescents. This result can be used to increase adolescent’s health promotion.Trial registrationThe trial was registered at the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRST) with the identification number: IRCT2015070623089N2.FundingThe authors received no financial support for the research from Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences.