پژوهشنامه مددکاری اجتماعی
پیاپی 12 (تابستان 1396)

Reports and statistical data indicate the critical state of Iran in terms of happiness and its related indexes. On the other hand, a tumultuous lifestyle in a metropolis such as Tehran makes people susceptible to being depressed and unhappy. An increasing speed of life and many social and economic problems threaten the psychological health of people and affect the society in different social, economic and cultural dimensions as a result. This study is a correlational and cross-sectional one, which is performed using a survey method for the active population of Tehran (15-65 years) with a sample of 371 members (multistage cluster sampling). Accordingly, in this study, we seek to answer the question of “how social variables (social capital, social trust, social coherence and Social participation) and economic variables (unemployment and income) affect the active population's happiness in Tehran?”. To analyze the data, descriptive statistical analysis methods, inferential statistics and path analysis method are used. The results indicated that, there was a significant positive correlation between “social coherence, social   participation and social trust” and “happiness”. Also, between “household income and age” and happiness. According to other results, there was no significant relationship between “educational level, employment status, gender and marital status of people” and “happiness”. Altogether, the path analysis model shows “social coherence, social participation, social trust, household income” has a significant positive effect on people's happiness and these variables can make up for 34 percent of the total variance of “happiness” changes. 

Over the course of history, death, in addition to life, has been a social phenomenon of major concern for human beings. Sudden demise, among other things, disrupts mental health, social interactions, and family relationships of the bereaved. Although there is a huge body of research on demography, burial, and rituals of death, few researchers have addressed sociological aspects of death in detail with reference to social and cultural backgrounds of how the bereaved behave in the event of sudden demise, the process of self-deconstruction, and the role of supporting agents such as relatives. The aim of the present study was to identify the behavior pattern of the bereaved and their relatives in the event of sudden death and the role the relatives played in the deconstruction process. Allied to this, a qualitative approach and the Grounded Theory were employed to collect the data. The bereaved who lost their loved ones within 4 months to 4 years ago gave in-depth unstructured interviews. The data were analyzed via open, axial, and selective codings. Afterwards, the results and findings were presented in tables in a story line based on the paradigmatic model. The results showed that the connections between the bereaved and their relatives and the consequent behavioral and emotional exchange shaped certain dynamisms. These dynamisms signified the establishment of a dualism about the emotional expectations of the bereaved from their relatives resulting in the emotional deconstruction between them.

The aim of the present research is investigating the Rusbult Investment Model (Marital Satisfaction, Quality of Alternative Relationships, Investment Size, Marital Commitment and Marital Relationship Persistence), on women who are on the verge of divorce in the city of Dezful. The sample consisted of 150 women on the verge of divorce who were selected through the availability sampling method. The instruments used consisted of Rusbult’s scale of investment and the Marital Instability Index (MII) by Edward et al. (1987). Pearson correlation coefficients and path analysis Methods were used for data analysis. The results at p<0.05 and p<0.01 showed a significant positive indirect effect of marital satisfaction, and investment size on the marital relationships persistence by mediated marital commitment on women on the verge of divorce, and a significant negative indirect effect of quality of alternative relationships on marital relationships persistence by mediated marital commitment on the women verge of divorce.

Social network types are a composite describing the interpersonal milieu and can be used for examination of the health and well-being of the population. This study tries to identify different types of social network used by retired elderly individuals and to compare their health when using the different identified network types. This study used a survey method. The SF-12 questionnaire (a shortened form of the SF-36 questionnaire) and a checklist of structural and interactional characteristics were used for gathering data.  Collected through convenient sampling, the study sample consisted of 230 retired elderly individuals, aged over 60 who were members of the Civic Retiree Center and Educational Retiree Center of Karaj. The K-means cluster analysis was used for derivation of social network types and a One-Way ANNOVA was adopted for comparing health among the groups. Four types of social networks were identified among older adults: diverse, family-focused, kin-focused and friend-focused. Respondents who belonged to diverse network had the highest health (physical and mental) scores and those with a more family-focused network had the lowest health score. Comparisons showed that the elderly individuals embedded in diverse and kin-focused networks had significantly higher health scores than those with a more family-focused network. Considering the importance of the individual in the environment perspective in social work, social network typology can give social workers a good assessment framework for understanding the health status of retired adults.

This study examines the life experiences and perceptions of prostitutes. The research design is an exploratory qualitative one and is based on the interpretive paradigm, in terms of the results it is applied and in terms of the criteria of the time it is cross-sectional. Through a systematic analysis of in-depth interviews with 16 participants (prostitutes, procurers, and customers) the grounded theory was conducted based on Strauss and Corbin's approach. After open and axial coding, 80 subcategories and 20 main categories were extracted. Ultimately, based on selective coding, the central phenomenon was formulated in the form of "prostitution, conflict resolution in the cycle of poverty, insecurity and exploitation". The results of the research showed that the central phenomenon was influenced by a set of underlying conditions including "deficiency in household and women-related laws" and "instability in socio-economic conditions" and interventional conditions including "deprivations from traditional culture", "inappropriate marriage", "addiction and acceleration of the propensity for prostitution", "domestic violence", "weak social skills", "shaky family" and "educational background",  and causal conditions included "social insecurity", "the prosperity of the market for exploitation" and "the increasing poverty of the household." Prostitutes also use strategies such as "active compliance with existing status" and "cross-sectional/non-enforced resistance" that results in "incapacitated risk aversion", "continuous exposure to violence" and "removing family from everyday life."

For various reasons, the delay in marriage (whether based on social norms or on the basis of self-perceptions) has become a living experience for some girls and boys, but due to the biological differences and cultural coordinates of the Iranian community, this may create a different situation for girls. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to study the life experiences of girls facing marriage delays and strategies for dealing with them. This study has adopted a qualitative methodology, using deep and semi-structured interviews for data collection and a thematic analysis method for analyzing the data. To this end, interviews with 20 girls aged over 30 living in the city of Karaj were carried out and theoretical saturation was obtained. The research findings are described in two main aspects of life experiences and typology of exposure strategies. The results of the research indicate that girls are in conflict with tradition and modernity. On the one hand, with the adoption of modern values, their marriage age has increased and on the other hand, the traditional Iranian society does not recognize these cultural and value changes, which has caused problems for girls and has given them the experience of social pressure due to their delay in marriage.

The present study is intended to investigate and identify the relationhip between social health and marital life satisfaction among veterans of war with a disability of over 25 percent in Sar-Poul-Zehab and Ghasr-e Shirin cities of Kermanshah. This study sought to answer this question: Is there a significant relationship between social health and marital life satisfaction? The controlling variables were percentage of disability, time of accurance of disability, and duration of disability. this research is survey-based and explanatory. Using the Cochran formula, the research sample was determined 235 veterans of war with a disability of over 25 percent. The reliability of the assessment tool was affirmed though formal methods and its validity using the Cronbach alpha. Finally, the data were collected through questionnaires along with interviews and were analyzed using the SPSS software, a t-test and the Pearson test. The findings showed a significant relationship between social health and marital life satisfaction among the war veterans. There was no significant relationship between the percentage of disability and marital life satisfaction. However, there was a significant relationship between time of ocurrance of disability, marriage duration, and marital life satisfaction. The innovation in this study, was the evaluation and confirmation of the relationship between macro and micro levels. It was concluded that higher social health would result in more satisfaction in the marital lives of war veterans with disabilites. Furthermore, marital life satisfaction among these veterans declined with a longer duration of married life. However, the percentage of their disability did not influence their marital life satisfaction.