A Sociological Study of the Causes and Backgrounds of Domestic Violence against Women with Emphasis on Social CapitalA Case Study of Married Women in Ilam, Iran

Social capital affects violence against women in both structural and cognitive dimensions. Promoting social capital as one of the resources available to the family can reduce the likelihood of domestic violence against women. The purpose of this study was to investigate the sociological relationship between social capital and husbands’ violence against wives in Ilam, Iran. To this end, the survey research method was utilized. The statistical population included all the married women aged 15-50 years living in Ilam, Iran. A sample of 382 women was selected from among them using the multistage cluster sampling method, but due to the invalidity of 7 questionnaires, finally 375 were chosen for analysis. The Standardized Strauss Questionnaire was used to measure violence against women, and a researcher-made questionnaire based on the integration of Nan Lin and Coleman's theories in five dimensions of structural intra-group, inter-group and beyond-group capital and cognitive intra-group and inter-group capital was used to measure social capital. To assess the reliability and validity of the questionnaire, Cronbach's alpha test and Croit-Bartlett’s coefficient in factor analysis were used, respectively. The results of correlation coefficient indicated that there is a significant inverse significant relationship between husbands’ violence against wives and the variables structural intra-group, inter-group and beyond-group capital, cognitive intra-group and inter-group capital and women’s power in family structure. The results of regression analysis showed that the variable cognitive intra-group social capital with beta -.290 and the variable women’s power in family structure with beta -.107 have the most and the least effect on violence against women, respectively. These six variables accounted for 87.4% of the variance of the dependent variable.