پژوهشهای راهبردی مسائل اجتماعی ایران (Mar 2023)
Examining the Relationship between Differeent Types of Family Capitals and Tendency to Risky Behaviors (Case Study: Secondary School Students of Al-Shatar City and Villages)
Abstract
Introduction From the point of view of health and mental health experts, high-risk behaviors are one of the basic problems of physical and psycho-social health for individuals and society. These behaviors are referred to as destructive behaviors that occur intentionally or without considering the consequences and cause adverse consequences for the individual and the society (Maleki Golandoz & Sardari, 2019). Adolescence includes the critical years of maturity and creates new changes in teenagers. During this period, physical, sexual, and cognitive growths undergo changes that have a tremendous effect on adolescent behavior (Steinberg, 2019). It is also formed during the period of identity search and achieving independence. Therefore, teenagers are not psychologically stable until they reach a clear and fixed identity (Klimstra & van Doeselaar, 2017). In this period, when many behavioral problems appear in teenagers, environmental pressures, in addition to behavioral and emotional problems, increase their incompatibility and conflicts in different areas (Lavasani et al., 2019: 162). All of these characteristics cause teenagers to experience new situations and bring a lot of harmful health problems for him. This is the result of risky and problematic behaviors, such as unhealthy habits, eating disorders, dangerous driving and accidents, consumption of tobacco, alcohol, and other substances, violence against oneself and others, and even the possibility of the spread of behaviors, such as suicide and other self-harming behaviors (Moghadami & Jahangiri, 2020: 160). Therefore, in this research, it was felt necessary to investigate and analyze social harms concerning teenagers with the subject of examining the family's (social, economic, symbolic, and cultural) capitals on high-risk (self-injurious and other-injurious) behaviors of male and female secondary school students in Al-Shatar City and its villages So as to identify and provide helpful solutions to improve their social problems. Materials & Methods The current study was of a broad type based on the method of collecting the data and an applied research based on the purpose and in terms of depth. Taking into account the criteria of time, the cross-sectional data on several traits studied in the year of 2018-2019) were collected. The statistical population included all 2967 male and female secondary school students of Al-Shatar City. Based on Cochran's formula, a statistical sample of 340 people was estimated and the quota sampling was determined according to the share of the population of students living in the city and villages, gender, and type of school. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to measure all the variables and obtain the necessary information. The face validity and reliability of the variables were measured based on Cronbach's alpha. Discussion of Results & Conclusion Order and balance in the family has an inverse relationship with delinquency (Samadian and Najafi Tawana, 2017). The relationships between parents and children, family disintegration, lack of order and balance in the family, etc. play an important role in juvenile delinquency (Ismaili et al., 2019). The researches that have been conducted about tendency towards adolescents’ high-risk behaviors and family support show that the decrease of parental support and family cohesion is associated with the increase of depressive symptoms and alcohol consumption in adolescents (Watkins & Rostosky, 2010). Adolescence is one of the most important and sensitive periods in the life of every person. In this era, the dimensions of a person's identity undergo fundamental changes. Therefore, family as the first and most important social institution for children plays a prominent and important role. It can be acknowledged that the existence of different dimensions of social, cultural, symbolic capitals, etc. in the heart of the family institution leads to the development of normal personality in teenagers. The results of the descriptive section of this research indicated that the average score of risky behavior among the sample of respondents was lower than average. The average score of self-injurious behavior was higher than that of other-injurious behavior. The average social capital had an average score according to the scores of participation, trust, and awareness among its components. The average cultural capital had a lower score than average based on the embodied, objectified, and institutionalized scores among its components, respectively. The average symbolic capital had a lower score than average according to the social, cultural, and economic components, respectively. Finally, the average economic capital had a lower score than average and among its components, the situational score was higher than the attitudinal score when valuing the family's economic capital by the students. It is noteworthy that among the capitals that the students evaluated for their families, social capital with the highest score had the first rank and then cultural, economic, and symbolic capitals were followed. In the inferential part of the research, there was an inverse and significant relationship between the variable of social capital of family and the degree of tendency to risky behavior. Bourdieu describes it as a capital due to improving the activists’ membership and participation in social networks, while Hirschi considers the context of crime to be strengthened by social bonds. The theory of social control considers supervision and community links important in controlling criminal persons. In this regard, our finding is consistent with those of the researches conducted by Alborzi et al. (2018), Niazi et al. (2017), Pfeiffer et al. (2017), Loch et al. (2015), and Pinxten & Lievens (2014). There was an inverse and significant relationship between the variable of cultural capital of family and the degree of tendency to risky behavior. According to Bourdieu, there is a set of capabilities, habits, and cultural traits, including the language of taste and people’s lifestyle, which are considered as the knowledge that enables people to interpret various cultural codes. It is the framework of analysis and reproduction of class power and privilege that is raised in the process of the influence of culture in social inequalities. According to Merton's pressure/anomie theory, the two elements of social culture, namely institutionalized norms (legitimate tools) and cultural goals, are considered to be important. He believes that pressure problems arise when there is no proportion between goals and tools in the society, that is, when opportunities are blocked for people due to their social class positions. This provides the basis for a person's delinquency. Also,the theory of self-control considers a person's assessment of the risks of punishment and internal self-control to reduce the tendency to a deviant behavior. The theory of deterrence believes that an increase in the level of a person's understanding of the possibility of punishment and its severity reduces the probability of a deviant behavior. Moreover, the theory of social learning considers a deviant behavior as a learned behavior that is learned in the process of relating to others, (especially the important others like parents and friends. In this regard, our finding is congruent with those of the studies performed by Partovi (2019), Qeisari et al. (2019), Ahmadi et al. (2019), Albarzi et al. (2018), Arabnejad (2017), Niazi et al. (2017), Pfeiffer et al. (2017), and Gagné et al. (2015), but not consistent with that of the research done by Pinxten & Lievens (2014), which points to the lack of a relationship between these two variables. There was not an indirect and significant relationship between the variable of family symbolic capital and the degree of the students' tendencies to risky behavior. According to Bourdieu, there is a set of symbolic tools, dignity, respect, and individual capabilities in the behaviors that a person possesses. It means that he/she has the ability to legitimize, define, and value them. The anomic pressure theory believes that the amount of deviant behavior increases when there is no ability to maintain a balance between cultural goals and tools. In this regard, our finding is not consistent with those of the research carried out by Niyazi et al. (2017) and Pfeiffer et al. (2017), who found an inverse and significant relationship between these two variables. There was an inverse and significant relationship between the variable of economic capital of family, i.e., the wealth and money that each social actor has in his/her hand and includes income and other types of financial resources that are institutionalized in the form of ownership, and the degree of tendency to risky behavior. Bourdieu defines other capitals to be in a close relationship with economic capital. Merton's pressure theory and the development of Durkheim's theory of anomie state that pressure problems arise when life goals, such as financial success, are emphasized a lot and the ways to achieve those goals are blocked; thus, people do not succeed in achieving them due to their social class positions. Moreover, Cohen's theory believes that values are closely related to the middle class. Most of these shared values emphasize goals that lead to success. Therefore, success itself becomes an approved public goal. Opportunities to achieve goals are more available to the middle compared to the lower class. The lower-class youths experience a form of cultural conflict that is called failure status. As a result, many of them enter into delinquent drug gangs, which have their own subculture, that is, it actually takes its norms from the larger culture but turns them upside downIn this regard, our finding is consistent with those of the researches done by Niyazi et al. (2017), Pfeiffer et al. (2017), and Pinxten & Lievens (2014). The mean difference in relation to the background variables was different according to gender, type of field of study, and type of place of residence so that this mean was different according to gender (among boys), according to type of field of study (among conservatory students), and according to the type of place of residence (among students). This situation was more intense in the city. The dimensions of this variable were also investigated to clarify the difference in the average level of tendency towards risky behavior between high school and conservatory students, in the self-injurious dimension of whom with the average values of 3.01 and 3.37 were obtained, respectively. In addition, in their other-injurious dimension, there were found the average values of 2.47 and 2.98, respectively. By entering 7 independent variables in the regression model of this research, about 0.64% of risky behavior could be explained by the mentioned factors. Among the independent variables, gender and economic capital had the most influences. Also, the variables of type of residence, cultural capital, social capital, type of education, and symbolic capital had an effect in explaining the dependent variable, respectively. Finally, the data accuracy and its compliance with the research model were confirmed via structural equation modeling.
Keywords
