نشریه مطالعات زن و خانواده
سال یکم شماره 2 (پاییر و زمستان 1392)

One of the main concerns of psychologists is to find ways and means to reduce the divorce rate and increase marital adjustment, respectively. As such, the present study investigated the role of religious orientation and healthy relationship in marital satisfaction of couples. To do so, 300 married men and women in three groups of employees, students and scholars residing in Mashhad, were selected randomly. They completed the Religious Orientation Inventory (BahramiEhsan, 2004), Healthy Relationships Inventory (BahramiEhsan & Rezazadeh, 2004) and Marital Adjustment Inventory (Sapanier, 1976). In general, the results showed that religious orientation and healthy relationship can predict marital satisfaction meaningfully. Specifically, within the components of religious orientation, the component of disorganization can predict the decrease of marital satisfaction in both men and women. Regarding, the role of healthy relationship in predicting marital satisfaction, the component of affectional relationship was significant for both sexes. However attempts for relationship improvement in relation to marital satisfaction was significant for women only, and in men, only the component of affectional relationship can significantly predict marital satisfaction. The finding of this research indicated that healthy relationships inspired from Islamic instructions meant for regulation and strengthening of the relationship between couples can enhance marital satisfaction in spouses.

In many studies marital dissatisfaction is mentioned as a consequence of problems associated with the relationship between a couple, and the interventional proceedings have focused mainly on modifying these relationships by utilizing various therapeutic and counseling techniques. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of efficient expression of emotions by training women to reduce their marital dissatisfaction. A sample of 34 females were selected regarding their main complaints, diagnostic interviews and Marital Satisfaction Questionnaire (ENRICH) scores and were placed in control and experimental groups randomly. The subjects of experimental group participated in the efficient expression of emotions training program which was held in the form of eight weekly sessions. The findings based on Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) showed that marital satisfaction and some of its components including personality issues, marital communication, conflict resolution and sexual relationship were distinguished in control and experimental groups. Accordingly, it can be said that the efficient expression of emotions training program can increase the level of marital satisfaction considerably.

Identity is one’s perception about his/her individuality. Today, fading communicational boundaries and expansion of life visions help people use various personal and social elements to shape their identity. Applying these elements to form a distinct narration can be seen in each person’s unique life style. Although working married women, like other people, desire to link between their identity aspects, but different obligations of their familial and occupational roles brings about many subjective and objective concerns for them. Gender identity may affect such problems. This research uses qualitative method to understand and describe the lifestyle of working married women and their identity issues. Research data was gathered by the technique of semi-structured Interviews with 22 personal samples and one group sample and qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the data. The results of this research showed that due to their multiple roles or the conflict between cultural and theoretical context of these roles, working married women confront special identical challenges in different aspects of their everyday life, relationships and consumption styles.

Iranian-Islamic pattern of family is ethic based and culturalization towarddevelopment of Islamic ethic in family is the shortest and the most important theoretical and applied strategy in designing the pattern of ideal family. The purpose of this research was to examine the effect of Islamic couple therapy on marital satisfaction of the couples. The methodology of this research was quasi experimental design with per-test, post-test and control group. The samples were 20 couples who referred to counseling centers in Isfahan. They were randomly placed in experimental (10 couples) and control (10 couples) groups. It was hypothesized that Islamic couple therapy will increase the marital satisfaction and its subscales. The dependent variable was marital satisfaction which was measured by employing Enrich Inventory. The independent variable was Islamic couple therapy which was carried out in nine sessions. Data were analyzed by SPSS software. The result showed that Islamic trainings increased marital satisfaction (P<0.01). The training also increased the subscales of marital satisfaction: personality issues, communication, conflict resolution, financial management, sexual relationship, children and parenting, family and friends. The effect of Islamic training on satisfaction of men and women was not different.

The aim of this study was to investigate and compare the personality characteristics of male high school students of working mothers with nonworking mothers. Research statistical population of the study included all male high school students of Sarpolzohab city. The research sample consisted of 200 participants who were selected using cluster random sampling. Data were collected using the short form of Minnesota Multiphase Personality Inventory (MMPI), and student’s academic and counseling records. The data were analyzed using MANOVA. Results showed that there is a significant difference (p<0.01) between the students with working mothers and non-working mothers in aspects such as depression, anti-social behavior and hysteria. Students with working mothers experience more depression and show more antisocial behavior. While students with nonworking mothers exhibit more hysterical behavior.

This research studies the attitudes of young families towards reproduction and childbearing. Accordingly quota sampling was done randomly on a group of young families in the age range of 19-38 years from different areas of Qazvin city. Data were collected and analyzed using the questionnaire developed by the researchers and after omitting unrelated statements, factor analysis showed four factors which were related to economy, culture, belief & physical/cognitive identity. The reliability of the scale was found by using 0.86 alpha of CRONBACH. Data were analyzed using T-test and ANOVA. Results showed that families had negative attitudes towards childbearing. There was no significant difference between the male and female groups and no significant difference between education, social-economic status, and belonging to a nuclearor extended family and their attitude towards childbearing. Factor analysis showed that economic factors rather than factors related to culture, belief & physical/cognitive identity had a great negative influence on attitude of young families towards childbearing. Educational psychology, MA

Surrogate mother or Rent-a-womb is one of the newest fertility techniques, which is used to treat women who are unable to hold the baby in their womb. In this method, the embryo is transferred into the uterus of the surrogate mother after the sperm and the ovum are fertilized and she maintains the baby for 9 months. After birth, the baby is delivered to the real parents. In this study, the researchers seek to understand the experiences of this phenomenon, with the help of those women who have experienced being a surrogate mother. This study was done as a qualitative study with a phenomenological approach based on purposeful sampling. So, unstructured interviews were done with nine surrogate mothers who attended Isfahan infertility center, and mothers expressed their experiences in this field. The data obtained from these interviews were analyzed using 7-step colaizzi, which resulted in extracting five main themes; causes of action, surrogate mother's relationship with requesting mother, relatives, feelings of surrogate mother, and decision-making process. The results indicated that the main reason of being a surrogate mother was financial problems. However, humanitarian feelings also played a role. The relationship between Surrogate mother and the requesting mother was directed to the time of pregnancy and after delivery, most preferred a disconnection. Also, no emotional attachment between the surrogate mother and the child in her womb was seen.