EconomicFactors Affecting Couple's Decision for Divorce: The Case of TehranCity

The present study aims to explore the effect of economic factors on couples’ decision for divorce. The data were collected qualitatively through in-depth interviews with 40 divorced men and women in Tehran. The findings reveal that unemployment and unstable occupation, inappropriate ways of making living, over-dependence on families, poor economic conditions of the society,high pressure on family income sources, and mismanagement of family financial sources are among the economic problems encountered by couples in their marital life. These issues have yielded a chain of events like couples’ lack of interactions in marital life, decrease in family welfare level, and increase in mental and behavioral disagreements and conflicts between couples. Based on the findings of the study, economic problems are not determining factors in divorce per se; however, they set ground for other conditions which can ultimately result in divorce. In fact, economic problems can surreptitiously postpone butaffect couples’ decision for divorce.