فصلنامه برنامه ریزی رفاه و توسعه اجتماعی
پیاپی 15 (تابستان 1392)

One of the most important and effective factors in development is the maximum participation of men and women in labor force. Women, as half of the potential labor force in any society, can accelerate the trend of economic growth and development through their contribution to economic activities. The present paper studies the effect of demographic, social, and economic variables on women’s labor force participation, using 2% sample data from the 2006 Census of Tehran. After reviewing theoretical and experimental literature, the most effective variables (with regard to the available data) in women’s participation were identified. After conducting the bivariate analysis, the final analysis was performed using the logistic regression. The results of the research demonstrated that divorced and never-married women in Tehran had higher labor force participation than married women or widows. Fertility rate had a negative effect on women’s labor force participation. In other words, women without children had higher labor force participation than those with children. Also, education level was another effective variable with a positive effect on with women’s labor force participation in Tehran. Moreover, family economic status had a significant effect on the level of participation. In other words, women in low-income families had higher labor force participation than those in high-income families. The results of logistic regression, with control for age, showed that the effect of variables in all models on the activity of women of all ages was statistically significant at the level of 99%. Education level, with control for other variables, was the most effective variable on the activity of all women, except those aged 20-34 years; while marital status, with control for other factors, was the most effective variable for women aged 20-34 years. The identification level of models according to the related independent variables was identified to be high and the predictability rate of models was more than 80%. All the four analyzed variables, therefore, had high effects on women’s labor force participation. In general, it can be concluded that the level of education not only had direct effect on women’s participation, but also indirectly increased it through affecting marital status (increasing age at marriage and divorce rate) as well as reducing the level of fertility. Therefore, these variables, along with others, affect the decision of women to join labor force.

Health is a fundamental requisite for the growth and development of society. With changes in lifestyle and shift from infectious diseases to chronic diseases, the role of social factors in determining the level of health has become more evident, and the sociology of health has become the focus of sociological debates. The present paper aims to study the effect of social capital, relative sense of deprivation, and discrimination on people’s health. The research sample consisted of 384 individuals who were selected from among the Isfahan citizens using Cochran formula and two-stage cluster sampling method. The data was collected through survey questionnaires, reliability and validity of which were verified. The results of the study confirmed the primary hypothesis that social capital should affect the health of Isfahan citizens. Moreover, all four dimensions studied in the research showed significant relationship with health. The results of the multivariate analyses also indicated that among the analyzed variables, social trust, support, correlation, and cohesion collectively explained 0.231 of the dependent variable.

The main objective of this research is to investigate the effect of homogamy on marital satisfaction. The population consisted of all married individuals aged 18 years and above in Tehran. The sampling method used was multistage sampling that consisted of stratified sampling, cluster sampling, and simple random sampling. The sample size comprised of 405 individuals who were selected from 18 municipal districts of Tehran (9 cells at northern Tehran, 9 cells at central Tehran, and 9 cells at southern Tehran). The dependent variable was marital satisfaction, which was assessed using Enrich test (a valid test for the assessment of satisfaction). Carlson’s age homogamy, François de Singly’s educational homogamy, Bossard and Boll’s religious homogamy, Greenblatt’s class homogamy, Collins’ occupational homogamy, income homogamy in exchange theory, Bossard’s geographic homogamy, Buchanan’s ethnic homogamy, and Collins’ homogamy in sexual beliefs were the hypotheses of this study (10 hypotheses). The research was of survey type, and questionnaire was used as the method of data collection. The findings were categorized into three groups including descriptive (one-dimensional tables), explanatory (two- dimensional tables), and theoretical (the relationship between theory and hypothesis). Age homogamy was confirmed at 99.9%. In other words, marital satisfaction increases as age homogamy rises. Educational homogamy was also confirmed at 99.9%, which means that an increase in education homogamy comes with an increase in marital satisfaction. Religious homogamy was confirmed at 99.9%. Thus, marital satisfaction increases with religious homogamy. Class homogamy was confirmed at 99% confidence. So there is a positive and direct relationship between class homogamy and marital satisfaction. Occupational homogamy was confirmed at 99.7%, which means that an increase in occupational homogamy is accompanied with an increase in marital satisfaction. Income homogamy was rejected at 95%, i.e. there is no relationship between this type of homogamy and marital satisfaction. Residential homogamy was confirmed at 99.9% confidence. In other words, it increases with marital satisfaction. Both ethnic and sexual beliefs homogamy were confirmed at 99.9%. Finally, the overall homogamy hypothesis was confirmed to have a positive and significant relationship with marital satisfaction (99.9%). R value was obtained at 0.826. The coefficient of determination (R2) was 0.682, and adjusted coefficient of determination (adjusted R square) was 0.675. According to the results, 68% of the variance in the dependent variable (marital satisfaction) is explained by the independent variables. The remaining 32% consisted of effective factors that were not taken into account here.

Happiness and joy are among the features that play a fundamental role in social life. Indeed, they have the highest role in improving relations and interactions. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the level of social happiness and the related factors among the citizens of Ahvaz. The research data was collected through survey method, using the self-evaluation questionnaire from a sample of 384 individuals, who were 15-64 year-old citizens of Ahvaz. The sample was selected using multistage random cluster sampling and Cochran formula. Hypotheses were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient, multivariable regression, and path analysis. The results of the research indicated that between socioeconomic status (in both subjective and objective dimensions), sense of social justice, social cohesion, social trust, social satisfaction, sense of social security, adherence to religious beliefs, and citizen satisfaction with urban services with social happiness is positive and significant. However, the relationship between sense of relative deprivation and sense of anomie with social happiness is negative and significant. Moreover, the multivariable regression analysis showed that 0.51 of the dependent variable variance could be predicted by the dependent variables.

The current paper is a report of a research on the level of religiosity and sense of security among the female high-school and pre-university students in Tehran. In this scientific work, one main hypothesis and four subhypotheses were formulated using the integrated theories of religiosity and sense of security. The hypothesis and sub-hypotheses were tested through survey research, using a researcher-made questionnaire. The Statistical population consisted of 400 students who were selected using multistage cluster sampling. The results indicated that there was a significant inverse relationship between religiosity and sense of security among female students. In other words, the more religious the students were, the less sense of security they had. Moreover, each of the dimensions of religiosity (ritual, experiential, ideological, and consequential) had a significant inverse relationship with the sense of security. In general, all of the hypotheses were confirmed by reverse.

The issue of recycling is one of the issues that have concerned urban management today. Among various social groups, women have a special place in the discussions of recycling and household waste recycling. In this regard, understanding women’s attitudes towards waste recycling is necessary for the management of household waste. Thus, the current study aims to investigate women’s attitudes towards household recycling and factors affecting them. The research, which used survey method, was conducted in urban areas of Mazandaran province on a sample of 471 urban housewives. The instrument for data collection was researcher-made questionnaire, the validity and reliability of which were verified. The research results showed that the new environmental paradigm has a significant role in shaping positive environmental attitudes towards household waste recycling management. Moreover, there was a positive and significant relationship between environmental concerns, level of education, and family socioeconomic status with attitudes towards recycling. In addition to scientific and theoretical applications, the findings of this research can be used by urban environmental authorities, managers, and planners.

The aim of the present study was to analyze the effectiveness of distance learning centers with regard to the directors and administrators of these centers in Bandar Abbas in 2011. The effectiveness of the educational activities, according to the resolutions of the institute, is defined as achieving the goals of distance learning, such as strengthening the scientific ability and stamina of students, laying the ground for enriching the scientific knowledge of students, facilitating research and scientific communication, preventing learners from dropping out, presenting a model for the comprehensiveness of educational system, establishing scientific and native education, and promoting the proper use of information and communications technology. The questionnaire contained 82 items that were categorized based on the 8 primary questions of the research. The research population consisted of all the directors of the distance learning centers in Bandar Abbas. The sample comprised of 30 directors due to the limitations. Therefore, descriptive statistics (percentage, mean, and standard deviation) was used to analyze the collected data. The results showed that the achievement of some goals of the approved programs of the institute had some shortcomings due to the lack of full awareness of executive agents. Monitoring, controlling, and building culture can help solve the issues in this area. Moreover, the country’s poor information and communications technology infrastructure is a key factor in reducing the effectiveness of these centers.