Desire and Attitude to Marriage Among Unmarried Iranian Youth: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Introduction Marriage is the most common custom in all societies, which is recognized as the most important and fundamental form of communication and intimate affiliation (1). From William Good's perspective, the global revolution and the process of modernization, as well as social factors affect the family, marriage, and individuals (2). Over the past decades, due to cultural and social transformations, including urbanization and globalization, significant changes have occurred in the process of marriage throughout most developing countries (3). Iran as a developing country, in transition from tradition to modernity, has faced changes in all aspects of social subjects such as marriage and mate selection. Nowadays, marriage is one of the particular challenging issues in Iran (4). Statistics recorded in the center of Iranian statistics indicate a decrease in marriage rate, to such a degree that the number of registered marriages decreased from 874 792 in 2011 to 704 716 in 2016 (5). Between the years 1986-2011, the percentages of unmarried women and men increased from 9.4 to 26.2 and from 18.5 to 40.5, respectively (4). Following a youth bulge in Iran, one third of Iran's population was made up of people 15-29 years of age. Undoubtedly, changes in the number of young people have been followed by changes in social and cultural conditions (4). In Iran, in a poll conducted by experts from the Ministry of Health and Medical Education, it was determined that before marriage, young people had other priorities such as employment and education, so the marriage was in the seventh priority of Iranian youth. In recent years, the age of marriage has significantly increased in Iran, with an average increase of about six years in small cities and 10 years in Tehran city. At present, more than 11 000 000 women and men are on the brink of marriage, from which a significant proportion are now getting out of the appropriate age for marriage and fertility (6). Attitudes and decisions about relationships particularly marriage as a long relationship are important, because it can have consequences for one's happiness, lifesatisfaction, health and psychological well-being (7). In the context of attitude and marital pattern, quantitative studies have been conducted (8-13), though the number of qualitative studies have been very limited. The validity and reliability of the translated English version of attitude to marriage was examined in a quantitative study. It was reported that it was impossible to generalize the results, as a weakness of study, to other people of community. Given the structural impact of the socioeconomic situation on the attitude to marriage, it has been recommended that interview should be used along with a validated Abstract Objectives: Due to the importance of marriage in providing the society structure, foundation for family formation, and continuity of the generation, as well as considering the decline of marriage rate in Iran, this study was designed to explore desire and attitude to marriage among Iranian yout...

Declining Desire for Childbearing in Couples with Higher Education: A Qualitative Study in Iran

“…In this regard, the financial status and the high economic price of bearing children were the most critical factors. The results revealed that the unfavorable economic conditions changed the childbearing patterns and behaviors and decreased fertility ideals (Haerimehrizi et al, 2017;Keshavarz et al, 2018;Oshrieh et al, 2020;Zhang, 2018;Zhou, 2019).…”