A Study on the Causes, Areas and Implications of the Youth Tendency to Cohabitation (Case Study: Youth in Tehran)

Youth policy making and management is always complex and difficult. Young people are considered as human capital of a community. Given the rapid changes in society, the need for research and recognition of their present status are of great importance. Cohabitation is one of the issues that have recently been seen among young people, and due to the cultural and social contradictions of this style of life with the conditions of Iranian society, the causation and study of the subject were defined as a research. This research was conducted using grounded theory and in-depth interviews with ten young people in the city. The findings showed that the circumstances of the young people's tendency toward cohabitation (white marriage) include changing their attitudes toward marriage and family values, the primacy of sexual maturity on social maturity and concern of the future and the most important areas of cohabitation tendency include family backgrounds, unsuccessful experiences with the opposite sex and the weakness of religious beliefs, media and membership in friendships experienced in marriage. Interfering conditions for young people's tendency toward cohabitation (white marriage) has been identified and justifies the strategy of young people versus choosing this lifestyle: the blame for family and community and the ineffectiveness of knowing formal and informal norms. Most contributors to the study reduce the implications of the tendency to marry, losing marriage opportunities, reducing social capital and exposure to Physical and spiritual illnesses.