فصلنامه زن و جامعه
سال دوم شماره 3 (پیاپی 7، پاییز 1390)

Breast cancer is one of the diseases which may have destructive effects on women’s social lives. As its treatment in early stages may yield favorable results, it is imperative that women acquire adequate knowledge and attitude and perform suitably in this regard. Therefore, the present study aimed at examining the socio-cultural factors pertaining to the knowledge, attitude and performance of the female students of Shiraz University as regards breast self-examination. This cross-sectional survey involved 305 female students of Shiraz University selected through simple random selection of respondents drawn by quota sampling method. A use was made of a questionnaire to elicit data and SPSS software to analyze it. As it was revealed by the analysis, 43.1% of the respondents had a limited knowledge of breast self-examination and 34.32 % expressed a negative attitude towards it. Further, only 2.3 % of the respondents practiced breast self-examination regularly. Accordingly, it is essential that attempts be made to train women and to enhance their knowledge.

Training rural women is an effective step toward sustainable rural development. The general purpose of this descriptive survey was to evaluate informal technical and vocational trainings of rural women. The study population included rural women in Sanandaj city. According to Krejcie & Morgan’s Table (1980), a sample of 120 respondents were selected using stage sampling method. Research instrument was a questionnaire whose face and content validity was approved by a panel of experts. To estimate its reliability a use was made of test-retest method which indicated its reliability. The findings of the study pointed to a significant difference between respondents’ skills prior and subsequent to receiving the trainings. An exploration of the knowledge changes of rural women in regard to their education, further, indicated that there was a significant difference in knowledge changes as far as their education levels were concerned. The aim of these trainings is job creation in order to foster economic growth of rural areas. Unfortunately, there is, however, faint possibility for rural women to work in handicrafts industry due to limited funds and unprofitable small-scale production. To solve this problem, it is suggested that cooperative companies of rural women and those of carpet-making be set up in villages.

This study reports on an investigation into the relationship among parenting style, attachment style and marital commitment in married female students of Allameh Tabatabai University. The sample of the study (N=120) was drawn out of all married female students of the university via convenience sampling method. The respondents responded to three questionnaires, that is, Parental Authority Questionnaire (PAQ, both father and mother forms), Adult Attachment Style Questionnaire (AAQ), and Marital Commitment Questionnaire (MCQ). To analyze the findings a use was made of correlational analysis. The results of the study indicated that there was a significant relationship between parenting style and attachment style, thus, confirming the first hypothesis. The results suggested, however, that there was no relationship between attachment style and marital commitment, hence rejecting the second hypothesis. It was also found that there was a significant relationship between parenting style and marital commitment. It therefore supported the third hypothesis.

The aim of this research was to study the relationship among attachment styles, forgiveness and marital conflicts in couples referring to counseling centers in Karaj. To this end, a convenient sample of 200 couples was selected. In order to collect data, a use was made of three questionnaires of personal experiences in intimate relationships, forgiveness, and marital conflicts (Barati & Sanaee). The data was analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient and independent t-test. The results suggested that there was a significant relationship among attachment styles, marital conflicts, and forgiveness. In addition, it was revealed that fewer martial conflicts and more forgiveness were reported by couples with secure attachment style than those reported by couples with either or both mates having insecure attachment styles. Finally, the results showed that couples without marital conflicts forgave one another more than couples with marital conflicts.

The purpose of the current research is to study the relationship between perfectionism dimensions, stress coping styles, and personality traits in female and male students of diverse disciplines. As such, 370 (185 male & 185 female) master and bachelor students of Islamic Azad University of Marvdasht were selected from different majors of natural sciences, mathematics, and humanities through cluster random sampling method. The respondents filled out the NEO, Perfectionism and Stress coping styles (WOCQ) Inventories. The data was analyzed employing Pearson correlation coefficient and stepwise regression analysis. Data analysis indicated that there was a positively significant relationship between personality traits (extroversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) and positive perfectionism and also between neuroticism and negative perfectionism. In addition, a set of positive relationship was revealed between neuroticism and emotion-focused coping style, conscientiousness and problem-focused coping style, positive perfectionism and problem-focused coping style, and negative perfectionism and emotion-focused coping style. Further, a negatively significant relationship was yielded between agreeableness and emotion-focused coping style.

The purpose of this study was to compare employed women and housewives’ patterns of communication and marital conflicts. The design of the study was causal-comparative. Two questionnaires of communication patterns (CPQ) and marital conflicts (MCQ) were employed in this study. The sampling frame of the study involved housewives and married women working in state banks in Shiraz in 2009. The sample of the study included 100 housewives and 100 married women selected through random sampling and cluster random sampling methods respectively. Research data was analyzed employing independent t-test. The results showed that employed women followed more mutual constructive pattern of communication (p<0.05) and housewives adhered more to a mutual avoidance pattern (p<0.01). As regards marital conflicts, employed women had more conflicts over separating financial affairs from each other (p<0.01) and housewives exhibited more conflicts over increasing emotional reactions and the kid's trust (p<0.05).

This study aimed at investigating the relationship between dysfunctional thoughts and the tendency towards suicidal thoughts of abused spouses in Jahrom city. The sample of the study consisted of 292 respondents (162 women and 130 men) aged between 20 and 45 selected from among abused spouses who referred to family courts, medical jurisprudence, and judiciary councils in Jahrom city using convenience sampling strategy. They were administered Wiseman and Beck’s dysfunctional attitude test and Beck's suicidal thought assessment questionnaire. The findings of the study indicated that there was a positively significant relationship between dysfunctional thoughts and the tendency towards suicidal thoughts of abused spouses. Further, there was a significant difference between men and women as regards dysfunctional thoughts. However, no such difference was found concerning their tendency towards suicidal thoughts. The study findings also suggested that there was a positively significant relationship between all dimensions of dysfunctional thoughts and the tendency towards suicidal thoughts. An analysis of the impact of the level of education on these two variables of interest revealed that it significantly affected dysfunctional thoughts but had no significant effect on the tendency towards suicidal thoughts.

The aim of present research was to study the prediction equation between personality trait and life style and marital satisfaction among woman nurses. The research method was descriptive-correlational. The target population included all married woman nurses working in hospitals in Shiraz. A sample of 140 respondents was drawn through cluster random sampling method. The instruments were NEO inventory, Miller & Smith’s Life Style Questionnaire, and Enrich’s Marital Satisfaction Questionnaire. A use was made of descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis in order to analyze data using SPSS. The findings showed that there was a negative relationship between neuroticism and marriage terms, whereas, a positively significant relationship was indicated between agreeableness and life style and marital satisfaction. It was also found that there was no significant relationship between extraversion, openness, conscientiousness, age, and marital satisfaction. Other results showed that neuroticism, agreeableness, life style and marriage terms could meaningfully predict marital satisfaction, while, extraversion, openness, and consciousness as personality variables and age could not significantly account for the variance.