پژوهشهای راهبردی مسائل اجتماعی ایران (Mar 2019)
A Sociological Study of the Social Consequences of Emotional Divorce of Women in Tehran during 2017-2018 based on Structural Equations
Abstract
Introduction Destabilization and weakness of the foundation of family and the reduction of love and affection among family members are examples of the consequences of today’s civilized and industrialized society. But, since the family is regarded as the footstone of the society, emotional divorce has changed from being a private problem into a public problem in the structure of a society which requires a lot of attention. The maladjustment of married couple who did not get divorced formally has more negative, physical, emotional, moral and social effects for the couple and their children than for the family members of the divorced couple. Emotional divorce is one of the important cultural problems in a society. The basis of family is formed through the marriage of a man and a woman. Without having a healthy life, no society can have a healthy community and all of the social harms are influenced by the family. Emotional divorce is not recorded anywhere and is related to families in which, because of the reasons such as the dominant customs in family, negative attitudes of the society towards the women, and the incapability in meeting the needs of the life, women forcibly decide to continue their common life with their husbands. The purpose of this study was to investigate the social consequences of emotional divorce among married women in Tehran city. Emotional divorce and the problems following it are reflected directly in social problems of the society and increase the social harms which influence the children who live in this society. Emotional divorce has been examined in Iran in descriptive and qualitative forms and there has been less effort to analyze it sociologically, and because of social and cultural conditions there has been less interest towards it. The purpose of the present research is to sociologically examine the social consequences of emotional divorce of women settled in Tehran. Material & Methods From the viewpoint of purpose and data collection, the present research was practical and qualitative, respectively. It also had a cause-and-effect nature. The analysis was based on structural equation. Data collection was descriptive and survey. To collect data, a questionnaire was used. Statistical population of the research included 622 married women who have experienced their common life for at least one year and have referred to consulting centers and health houses of Tehran. Then, to examine the relationship among the variables the structural model of Amos Software was used. Discussion of Results & Conclusions According to the collected data, emotional divorce had a positive and meaningful effect on improper marital relationships, social harms, and social isolation, but had a negative effect on marital satisfaction. It had no meaningful effect on social growth and shouldering responsibility. Emotional divorce had the most effect on social harms and improper relationships, marital satisfaction, social isolation, respectively. Model values indicated that the effect of emotional divorce was 63% in inappropriate marital relationships (betrayal), 58% in social harms, -49% in marital satisfaction, and 34% in social isolation, respectively. Therefore, by reducing emotional divorce, the level of marital inappropriate relationships, social harms, academic failure and social isolation can be reduced, and the body image, child education, marital satisfaction, and religious beliefs can increase. Regarding the findings of the research, emotional divorce was effective on the amount of social isolation, improper marital relationships, life satisfaction and social harms. Some efforts should be done in the society so as to reduce the harms resulting from divorce. Reducing emotional divorce and at last the lawful divorce, and improving social conditions, doing cultural measures to modify ancient and false views of the society such as man-domination, sexual discrimination, informing women of their personal and social rights, preventing imposed marriages through training parents and passing proper laws in this regard, and increasing the skills of the women exposed to divorce to face emotional problems of common life via providing consulting services are suggested.
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