Measurement of Factors Affecting the Gap of Women's Behavior and Attitude onAppropriate Age ofMarriage in the City of Koohdasht

With the arrivalof modernityin Iranthe society normshave changedandtraditional patterns، especially family pattern، has been under various changes simultaneously. For instance، theaverage age of marriagefor girlshas increased over the past decades. This paper aims to determine and analyze factors affecting the gap in women’s behavior and attitudes on theappropriate age ofmarriage for girlsin the city of Koohdasht. Residents of this region ethnically and culturally belong to Lor and Lak ethnic groups. Lack of any knowledgeon marriage patterns ofwomen of these ethnic groups would necessitate this study. Data istaken from a survey conducted on a sample of 395 once-married women living in ordinary households atthe city of Koohdasht in April 2013. A combination of sampling techniques including multistage clustering and systematic random sampling were employed. Results indicated gaps in women’s behavior and their attitude on the appropriate age ofmarriage. The 63 percent of participants proposed a mean age of marriage for girls completely different to the age of their own marriage. The gaps are mostly in a negative direction. More than 80 percent of women took part in the test proposed a higher age for girls’ marriage compared to their own age of marriage. According to this study، socio-economic status of women، postmaterialist attitudes to marriage، women’s autonomy and age at the time of the study hadthe most impact on the rate of the gap between women’s behavior and attitudes on theappropriate age ofmarriage. The results also reflected the fact that the combination of socio-economic، demographic characteristics and ethnic-cultural factors could provide a better explanation forthe gap in women’s behavior and attitude on theage of marriage.