A Study on Structure of Power Distribution in Family and Social Participation (Case study of Golestan Province Residents)

Social participation is one of the basic needs of contemporary human society. The social participation of family members depends on the structure of power distribution. This study aims to examine the association between social participation and structure of power distribution. It is based on a survey conducted in two major cities of Golestan Province (that is, Gorgan and Gonbad). The survey includes a sample of 368 persons who have been selected on the basis of stratified random and multi – level samplings.
The results of this study indicate that the averages for objective social participation and subjective social participation are 3.402 and 2.488 (out of 5.000), respectively. The results also show that both objective and subjective social participations are positively and significantly affected by democratic structure of power distribution. In contrast, non-democratic structure of power distribution plays a significantly negative role in both objective and subjective social participations.