فصلنامه مطالعات اجتماعی - روان شناختی زنان
سال نوزدهم شماره 1 (پیاپی 66، بهار 1400)

The family plays an important role in the mental and social health of its members and then in the social health of the community. The absence of either parent in the family environment upsets its balance and weakens its functions. Female-headed households, in addition to maternal duties and responsibilities, find new roles and responsibilities in the family. Worsening of these conditions is compounded when the position of the female inferior is combined with the inferior position of the class and these two major gaps condense. The aim of this study was to investigate the issues and concerns of heads of households and how they face the challenges ahead with a qualitative approach and phenomenological method. For this purpose, semi-structured and in-depth interviews were conducted with 19 heads of households living in Tehran, and purposive sampling method was used to select them. After analyzing the findings, 11 themes were obtained. These themes include the life process of mothers-to-be, including pre-care conditions and the challenges of cohabitation (child as a means of cohesion and survival, efforts to maintain and rebuild life, negative family attitudes toward divorce), and care issues (poverty). And includes self-esteem, antisemitism, social isolation, double suffering, child concern, reconstructed identity, mental and physical trauma, feelings of insecurity and fear. Finally, according to the identification of 5 types of female-headed households (injured and rejected women, women motivated to improve and change the situation, women with relative family support, female nursing spouses and children in the family, children supporting women and caring mothers) We obtained the research data. Double suffering, social exclusion (forced or voluntary), and identity reconstruction are central and common categories of female-headed households in this study.

This study explains the early marriages of girls in Qom and the related social, psychological and physiological factors. The research applied the methodology of grounded theory; and overall, about 38 women in Qom who married under 18 were interviewed in in-depth semi-structured interviews. The results of the research reveal that the early marriage conditions for the girls in social aspect are respectively: meeting appropriate and acceptable suitor, compulsion, freedom in decision making, fear of scandal, the inappropriate and unorganized status of the family, and being interested in starting a family; social-psychological aspects are: fear of staying single, psychological preparation and skills readiness, escaping from the stressful condition of family; and psychological aspect are: premarital emotional bond; and finally physiological aspects are: physical fitness, and sexual need. It should be added that the family traditions and customs, as well as religious believes, were the grounded conditions for girls’ early marriages. The facilitator factors from the sociological viewpoint are: social interactions, inappropriate economic status; social-psychological viewpoints are: lack of affections in family, big age gap with the parents, parents’ concerns of inappropriate moral status in society; and the psychological viewpoint is the lack of correct criteria for marriage. The strategies applied were collective consist of social supports, legal measures, interactions of parties in creating optimal communication, and treatment and individual strategies are conflict management, passivity and retaliatory. The consequences of girls’ early marriage include economic problems, divorce, dropout, lack of communicational skills, physical and health problems for mother and fetus.

The aim of this study was to predict the feeling of loneliness of female managers based on couples' communication patterns and interpersonal dependence with the mediating role of work-life balance. A sample of 300 female managers working in the Plan and Budget Organization in Tehran was selected by convenience sampling method. The research instruments included the Couples Communication Patterns Questionnaire, the Interpersonal Dependence Questionnaire, the Work-Life Balance Questionnaire, and the Loneliness Questionnaire. Structural equation test, Pearson correlation and regression analysis with statistical software AMOS 24, SPSS23 were used for statistical analysis of data. The results of regression analysis showed that couples communication patterns and interpersonal dependence significantly predict the feeling of loneliness of female managers (p> 0.001). The amount of indirect effect of communication pattern with loneliness and interpersonal dependence was obtained with feeling of loneliness, which shows that interpersonal communication pattern and dependence with loneliness mediate the relationship between work-life balances. It is suggested that in the treatment of managers 'feelings of loneliness, sufficient attention be paid to couples' communication patterns, interpersonal dependence, and balance between work and life.Central tendency and dispersion indices of work-life balance scores (3.14±0.32), loneliness (2.65±0.24), interpersonal dependence (2.678±0.20), communication patterns(4.37 ± 0.63).

Sexual satisfaction is a key factor in the quality of married life that is influenced by different factors in different periods. Although sexual satisfaction has been considered in many studies, the role of psychological and demographic variables in maintaining sexual satisfaction in women after the age of 40 is not very clear. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the predictive role of demographic and psychological factors affecting sexual satisfaction in women after 40 years. The present study was a cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study. 365 healthy women in the age range of 40 to 65 years completed a battery of validated questionnaires that included demographic questionnaire, Sexual Satisfaction Scale (1981), Mindfulness Scale (2006) and body image concern scale (2005). Pearson correlation, multivariate regression and independent t-test were used to analyze the research data. The results of Pearson correlation showed that the relationship between age (r = -0.208, P <0.001), duration of marital life (r = -0.264, P <0.001), mindfulness (r = 0.425, P <0.001) and concern about body image (r = 0.297, P <0.001) is significant with sexual satisfaction. Multiple linear regression results showed that duration of marital life (B = -0.58, P <0.001), mindfulness (B = 0.503, P <0.001) and body image concern (B = -0.237, P <0.001) can predict sexual satisfaction and explain 29.8% of the variance of female sexual satisfaction. Independent t-test also showed that sexual satisfaction in non-postmenopausal women was significantly higher than postmenopausal women (P <0.01). The present study showed that sexual satisfaction in women after 40 years of age has a significant relationship with psychological factors (i.e., mindfulness and body image). It is suggested that counselors and psychologists in the field of sexuality use the findings of this study in designing therapeutic interventions to promote the sexual satisfaction of women after the age of 40.

Motherhood, the beautiful sense of affection and having children is the symbol of this emotional necessity. The essential feeling of being a mother to a child in its natural and biological form is not possible in some cases, however, individuals could fulfill this issue to the fullest extent through adopting nonbiological children. Although with high statistics of infertility amongst Iranian households, the belief of being capable of becoming a mother without giving birth to a child and acceptance of a non-biological child is yet unfulfilled. The main issue of this research is examining the challenges of women in the process of adoption. Hence by adopting a qualitative approach and by interviewing 28 women thoroughly who had the experience of having a nonbiological child with analyzing the content of the interviews, challenges of adoption is extracted and underpinned. "Social, Cultural, and Religious Perspective", "Legal, Religious, and familial Structure", and "Selective, Responsible, and Conscious Function" are recognized and represented as the most important challenges in attempts of adopting a nonbiological child. The interior content extracted of these issues is entitled "Individual and Social Perspective arising from Institutionalized Traditional Values and Beliefs towards Stepchildren" which in fact this issue sets the scene for challenges that arise concerning adopting a nonbiological child.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating role of resilience between the components of dyadic Perfectionism and emotional divorce components. This research is descriptive and correlational. The statistical population includes all married women living in the 13th district of Tehran in 2020, of which 360 were selected by available sampling method and they completed the Emotional Divorce Scale, Dyadic Perfectionism Scale and Resilience Questionnaire. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and Path analysis. The findings showed that there is a significant relationship between all components of emotional divorce, resilience and all components of dyadic perfectionism (p<0.05), Also, resilience mediates the relationship between all components of marital dyadic perfectionism and all components of emotional divorce. The results showed that resilience can play a positive role in controlling marital dyadic perfectionism as well as emotional divorce.