Abstract
Divorce is considered as an important social and public health concern worldwide. The aim of this study was to identify divorce’s social and economic contributors among Iranian couples. This case-control study was conducted on 60 divorced and their neighboring 64 still-married couples with approximately the same date of marriage. The required information was obtained from consultant administrated forms which are used routinely by Iranian family consulting centers. An interview-administered questionnaire with almost the same structure and questions was used to obtain information from still-married couples. Based on the results of multivariable analysis and (stepwise) selection of the study variables, significant associations between divorce and employment of both husbands and wives, education of husband, and the couple’s accommodation statuses were found. Accordingly, wife's (OR unemployed/self-employed=4.97, 95%CI: 1.38-21.61, P=0.001) and husband's (OR unemployed/self-employed =17.45, 95%CI: 3.56-123.98, P=0.001) unemployment, less educated husband's (OR primary or secondary/higher education =23.98, 95%CI=4.04-237.05, p=0.001) and couples with shared accommodation (OR dependent/independent= 5.99, 95%CI=2.54-17.72, P<0.001) were at higher risk of divorce. ROC analysis suggested that divorce can be confidently predicted by the above factors (AUC=0.882 95%CI: 0.816-0.948) with 66.7% sensitivity and 92.6% specificity. This study introduced several predictors, which can be used by family consultants and psychologists to recognize high risk marrying or married couples to prevent divorce and to help couples to obtain and sustain healthier marriages and stronger family relationships.
Highlights
Divorce is a significant concern to the public
The divorcing couples were predominantly tenant (54.90% among cases compared to 23.64% among controls, p
The husbands in the divorcing couples were raised in bigger parental families (87.50% had more than four family members compared to 77.05% among controls, p=0.16) and were predominantly under pressure by their parents to marry (9.62 among cases compared to 3.39% among controls, p=0.17), the differences were not significant
Summary
Divorce is a significant concern to the public It affects the social, physical and mental statuses of all family members and in that respect, the community’s health (Adults, Brown, & Lin, 2018). It is suggested that among Iranian couples, possibly due to the recent social and demographic changes including urbanization and women’s financial independency, the rate of divorce is rising constantly (Farzanegan & Gholipour, 2016). The upward change of divorce among Iranian young couples has raised the government’s concern. This is because, in addition to family and social harms, high divorce rates of such an extent are negatively affecting population growth in Iran (Farzanegan & Gholipour, 2016)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
