Socio-cultural factors related to the tendency toward superstition among women living in the suburbs of Yazd

Superstition and superstitious beliefs are among the important concerns today to the extent that they could be considered social and cultural issues as they can influence human social life. This study examined the socio-cultural factors influencing the tendency towards superstition among women living in the slums of Yazd, Iran. The study was designed as survey research and the data was collected using a questionnaire with cluster sampling among 246 women living in the slums of Yazd. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed through content validity and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used to assess the reliability. The findings of the study indicated that the variables of marital and employment status and social security had no significant relation with the tendency of participants towards superstition. However, the variables including age, socio-economic status, modernism, alienation, life satisfaction, social learning, social exclusion, and the use of mass media had a significant relation with the tendency towards superstition. The results of multiple regression analysis confirmed the significant relation of four variables of life satisfaction, social learning, modernism, and the use of mass media among which mass media had the strongest role in explaining the variable of the tendency towards superstition.