Marriage Patterns, Marital Satisfaction, and Tendency to Divorce in Tehran City

In recent years, the increase of divorce has become one of the most social problems in Iran. Various economic and social factors, including marriage patterns, lead to divorce. The aim of this article is to examine the impact of different patterns on marital satisfaction and the tendency to divorce among married youth in Tehran. Data was collected by conducting a survey and interview with 720 married 15-29 years old in different neighborhoods of Tehran city. The results indicated that about a fifth of respondents have low marital satisfaction and high tendency to divorce. Multivariate analysis showed marriage patterns significantly affect the marital satisfaction and divorce. The results suggest that controlling for socio-demographic, friendship and premarital sex, traditional and modern of mate selection (arranged and self-choice marriages), class heterogeneity lead to lower marital satisfaction and higher risk of divorce.