Students’ marriage age increase, affecting

factors and priorities

Heidar Ali Jahan Bakhshi

and Sayfolla Fazlollahi Ghomeshi

Department of Islamic Sciences, Islamshahr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Islamshahr, Iran

Department of Education (Curriculum), Qom Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qom, Iran

ABSTRACT

The purpose of research is to identify and prioritize the factors in uencing the increase in age of marriage among

students of Islamic Azad University of Islamshahr. Methods: This study was descriptive survey and the statistical pop-

ulation was Islamshahr Islamic Azad University students at the second semester of 2015-16 academic years among

whom 350 students were selected based on the sample size estimation table of the Morgan and Kerejcy populations

as strati ed random sampling. The information gathering tool was the self-made questionnaire including 31 compo-

nents according to the 5-points Likert scale with 0.89 reliability based on Cronbach’s alpha. Descriptive inferential

statistics and single-group Z inferential test were used to analyze the data. Results: The results showed: First, all Z

score agents are more than critical Z score in con dence level of 0.99 and  / 2 (2.58) = 0.01 and the second, The

existence of the phenomenon of unemployment, the society approach to increase the level of education, the fear of

the phenomenon of excessive increase in the costs of living, lack of suf cient income to marry, fear of failure in life,

the spread of aristocracy culture, extreme emphasis on the nobility of the two parties, changing the criteria for an

easy marriage, fear of supplying suitable supplies for life, and the dif culty of families’ deal as a result of complex

social relations are as the most important factors in increasing the marriage age of students respectively. Conclusion:

economic factors and living conditions are more in uential on the increase of marriage age of students more than

cultural phenomena and social values.

KEY WORDS: STUDENTS, ISLAMIC AZAD UNIVERSITY, MARRIAGE AGE INCREASE, PRIORITIZATION, AFFECTING FACTORS

234

ARTICLE INFORMATION:

*Corresponding Author: jahanbakhshi46@gmail.com

Received 30

Dec, 2016

Accepted after revision 29

March, 2017

BBRC Print ISSN: 0974-6455

Online ISSN: 2321-4007

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Biosci. Biotech. Res. Comm. Special Issue No 1:234-242 (2017)

Jahan Bakhshi and Fazlollahi Ghomeshi

BIOSCIENCE BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS STUDENTS’ MARRIAGE AGE INCREASE, AFFECTING FACTORS AND PRIORITIES 235

INTRODUCTION

Islam is a religion of culture and in the Islamic cul-

ture, the pivot of reforms is the culture. Culture is the

extract of social life and it is y culture that the person

is linked and coordinated to the people around at vari-

ous dimensions and is identi ed and determined of the

other societies. Certainly, the existence and survival of

human beings and societies is related to the culture (Fazl

Ellahi Ghomeshi, 2013). Universities and students are

of the most important cultural elements of the society

that play a major role in the structure of society by cre-

ating knowledge and the promulgation of culture and

ways of life. Marriage and families are of the symbols

of Islamic culture as an inevitable necessity not only for

psychological and physical comfort of the people, but

also to strengthen values and family institution, social

health and a fortunate for excellence, purity and pure

life. Therefore, the timely marriage of students not only

emphasizes the adherence to culture and values but also,

the sanctity of the pure and scienti c environment of

the university is also speci cation. Marriage (Ezdevaj) is

made up of the word “Zoj” meaning as couple and pair.

In fact, a person who has been alone and single tries

to form the smallest unit of the society as the family

and marriage can be known as a social contract based

on compromise and compromise between the man and

the woman and the stability of the society (Biabangard,

2002).

In the Qur’an’s view, marriage is the source of peace

of the human spirit and is a great sign of God’s mercy

and grandeur (Rome Sura: 21). Marriage is an intimate

relationship between man and woman for a long time

and this relationship is not to satisfy the immediate

desires but the future life and the happiness of men and

women and their children are formed based on this rela-

tionship. There is a need for constant compromise and

high level of sacri ce in the marriage but if the man

and the woman have more compromise before the mar-

riage, there is a possibility for higher compromise after

the marriage (Ahmadi Monfared, 2008).

Marriage is a process of interaction between man

and woman held under Sharia and customary legal

ceremonies the loyalty to which is accepted by Sharia

and social laws and organizations (Ibid: 20). Marriage

is an action that causes the interaction between the two

sexes based on the constant sexual relationships; there-

fore, the relationship between two people of the same

sex is not considered as marriage whether contempo-

rary or permanent and o the other hand, in the marriage

de nition, the mere physical relationship between the

opposite sexes does not seem suf cient since marriage

requires a social agreement that causes the legality of

the physical relationships (Sarookhani, 1991). Karlsson

shows marriage as a process of mutual action between

two people, a man and a woman, that realizes some legal

conditions and holds a ceremony for their marriage and

generally, their activity is accepted by the law as the

marriage (Karlsson, 1963).

Marriage and marital issues has been one of the most

important issues of human life during history. Therefore,

this issue has been considered by different scienti c

 elds as sociology, law, economics, psychology, phi-

losophy in addition to religions. Thus, any change and

transformation in society will cause changes in the fam-

ily institution by considering the importance of the fam-

ily as one of the major institutions of society.Increased

marriage age for girls and the phenomenon of certain

spinster among them is among the cultural and social

changes that are resulted in large changes occurred in

the society. Increased marriage age phenomenon is not

only observed in Iran but also in postindustrial devel-

oped countries like the United States of America, so that

on the basis of existing studies, the age of marriage in

this country has outstandingly increased since the mid-

1960s among its population (Loughran and Zissimopou-

los, 2004).

Marriage time and family formation is in uenced

by several factors. The development and modernization

in the new world has caused the change in the time of

marriage and its delay with the rapid and considerable

change of the individual’s economic and social condi-

tions. The collapse of wide family systems, the replace-

ment of industrial and business trading instead of tra-

ditional agricultural economy, the complexity of social

labor division, the expansion of public education and

more involvement of women in economic and social

activities outside the house are factors that contribute to

delayed marriage (Mahmoudian , 2004).

The increase of the population growth rate is among

the factors that has catalyzed the increase of marriage

age and the occurrence of certain spinster phenomenon.

On the other hand, it should not be neglected that the

increase of marriage age and the certain spinster phe-

nomena cause disorder in the natural function of the

family institution and consequently, we will naturally

face the destroy and the threatening of mental health,

the creation of inhibiting dams and barriers in the way

of mental growth and sublimation, the occurrence of

mental and social diseases and disorders such as depres-

sion, anxiety, addiction and social crimes, wasting the

massive energy of people that prevents social growth

and sublimation, the increase of the age differences

between children and parents and interest and perspec-

tive gaps between the two generations within the family

(Soltanpoor, 2000).

According to this important factor and the emphases

of the Islam humanitarian school on timely marriage of

Jahan Bakhshi and Fazlollahi Ghomeshi

236 STUDENTS’ MARRIAGE AGE INCREASE, AFFECTING FACTORS AND PRIORITIES BIOSCIENCE BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

youths constantly as the cause of the mental peace and

physical comfort; “And of His signs is that He created for

you from yourselves mates that you may  nd tranquil-

ity in them; and He placed between you affection and

mercy. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give

thought” (Rome Sura: 21). According to the necessity of

creating a healthy and pure environment for thinking

and producing knowledge and the promulgation of the

culture and societal values at universities as the center of

thinking and knowledge production the most important

factor of which is students and their physical and intel-

lectual health is considered as the environment creation

and learning experiences for the knowledge production.

The students’ marriage at proper ages will cause the suc-

culence at universities and the focus of exactness on

scienti c objectives. Therefore, the researchers are after

providing the possibility of cultural and managerial cur-

riculum for having developed and Islamic valued-based

universities by identifying and prioritizing the affecting

factors of the students’ marriage age increase.

INHIBITING FACTORS OF MARRIAGE

Any factor that causes the lack of the formation of mar-

riage of girls and boys or delays the marriage is called

the inhibiting factor of the marriage (Dezhakam, 2004:

108). These factors include: economic problems and

false customs and formalities, false freedoms and escap-

ing responsibility, military service of boys, the problem

of housing, fastidious and possessiveness in mate selec-

tion, poverty (Biabangard, 2002: 94 ), disrupting the

balance of boys and girls ready to get married because

of migration from the villages for the purpose of uni-

versity education (Sadeghian, 2001: 5), sexual deviation

and adultery, male impotence and female undersexed,

intense love relationships as falling in love, the lack of

coordination of social and economic status of the two

parties’ families, time lapse and aged boys or girls, rela-

tive incent, high intellectual difference between the boy

and the girl, ideological and religious differences and

so on (Dezhakam, 2004). Sometimes these factors can

be overcome and are not majorly important and such

as poverty, education time and so on and sometimes,

these factors cannot be overcome and there is no possi-

bility for marriage such as love relationships, the intense

educational and economic differences and the lack of

the complete compromise of the both parties’ families

(Dezhakam, 2004). The age of marriage is one of the

important indicators to evaluate the physical and men-

tal health of a community (Murayama, 2001). In our

country that religious norms enjoy a favorable popu-

larity among people, it carries the domain of the effect

of the marriage age to new generation behavioral and

cultural identity  elds. A signi cant increase in mar-

riage age after centuries of early marriage experience is

considered as important phenomenon in social changes

(Hajnal, 1965: 48).

Marriage and family formation is one of the issues

discussed by various religions, philosophers, sociolo-

gists, psychologists, scholars, educators, poets, writers

and artists. In marriage and family formation, goals and

motivations such as the human desire for the continu-

ity of generations, spiritual and economic needs and

requirements are involved that have been varied in dif-

ferent periods of human history (Caldwell, 1981). But

what nowadays is the main challenge of Iranian society

among young people is the increase of the age of mar-

riage; young people, who do not  nd the opportunity

to marry, young people who are isolated due to wrong

social traditions and also young people who like to be

single for a long time of their lives. These and other fac-

tors have changed the marriage age phenomenon as a

problem. It worth mentioning that the consequences of

this phenomenon (marriage age) can cause the increase

in anxieties and stresses and the prevalence of depres-

sion and behavioral disorders and sexual vulnerability.

By the lapse of the exciting period of life, it decreases

the motivation for marriage and discourages the aged

girls to form families (Azad Armaki, 2007).

Besides that, the marriage age increase and certain

spinster sends out the marriage of the legal and nor-

mal circulation and threatens the security of the family

which is in line with other damages as the increase of

divorce due to illegitimate relationships (Gidenze, 2007).

On the other hand, speci c problems such as huge dow-

ries, huge amounts of jewelry payment, various gifts and

costumes and glamorous wedding celebrations, renting,

mortgage or house purchase, pregnancy and parenting

and dozens of other family, economic, social and cul-

tural problems face young people (Eskandari Cherati,

2008). Simultaneous with economic and social changes

such as urbanization, education, creation of new jobs

and the emergence of various classes, the family system

and the governing norms can be seen in the changes in

marriage age (Kana’ani, 2006).

Considering the importance of the issue, the increased

marriage age seems to be more important from differ-

ent cultural, political, economic, social and even secu-

rity for people when it is related to the open minded

students of universities. Students are the thoughtful and

cultural capitals and future leaders and managers of the

societies who have the mission of knowledge produc-

tion, culture development and cultural services to people

and certainly, thinking method and their interpretation

can have various effects on the society. Student mar-

riage phenomenon will be the provider of physical and

mental happiness and the background provider of the

health and the purity of the sacred environment of the

Jahan Bakhshi and Fazlollahi Ghomeshi

BIOSCIENCE BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS STUDENTS’ MARRIAGE AGE INCREASE, AFFECTING FACTORS AND PRIORITIES 237

university to produce knowledge and endeavor to reach

individual and social sublimation peaks; an objective

that the Supreme Leader of Iran institution tries to real-

ize in order to realize the pure life at universities by

providing the cultural background and giving  nancial

services and loans in the recent years.

Despite all these efforts and in the way of the God’s

satisfaction, the student marriage age also needs more

investigation according to realities in order to have

effective planning to reach the goals with proper reason-

ing. The review of literature and websites and credited

information services of the country show that descrip-

tive researches based on the data analysis are very few

although the researches in the related domain are not

few some of which are mentioned below.

Karimlu et al (1999) compared the change trend of

the age of the  rst marriage of women in Tehran prov-

ince with all the country based on the information of the

National Health and disease project in Iran and analyzed

it based on Bras 8 method.

The results show that marriage ratio in all age groups,

and especially in 15- 19 years age group, has completely

decreased and generally, marriage age has increased

across the country as well as Tehran province. In a study

entitled as “the age of marriage is rising: the study of sup-

porting factors”, Mahmoudian (2004) found that recent

marriages happen at higher ages and education, urbani-

zation, the cooperation of women as labor force, freer

marriages, sexual equality and the relative relationship

of the couples have direct effects on the marriage age. In

a study entitled as “the evolution of women’s marriage

age in Iran and the population factors affecting it based

on attributive study and descriptive-analytical research

method”, Kazemipoor (2004) concluded that there is a

relationship between marriage age, literacy, education,

ethnicity, urban and rural residential areas and gener-

ally the socio-economic status of people. Moreover, the

age structure of population (the disproportion between

unmarried men and women) are among the in uencing

factors on the variations of the age of marriage in Iran.

In a study, Nikmanesh and Kazemi (2006) studied the

effective factors on the marriage age increase among the

youth and the in uencing solutions to come over this

problem and showed that marriage opportunities have

been more available for girls with delay in marriage than

boys and girls have known the main reason for their

failure to getting married as not  nding a loved one

and continuing education. Boys have introduced eco-

nomic problems and unemployment as barriers to mar-

riage. Hope for marriage in the future is higher in boys

than girls. Also, they showed that boys and girls know

reducing expectations of their parents as a solution to

marriage problems. In the second priority, boys and girls

have introduced the overcome of economic problems

and unemployment as the solution. In a study entitled

as “the study of the reasons and effects of the marriage

age increase among rural girls in Ashtian”, Majduddin

(2007) concluded that family is of great importance in

terms of effectiveness on its members and on different

levels of society and the cause of the family is marriage.

So, the health of the society and family is related to a

healthy and permanent marriage.

Also, social factors and problems caused by this such

as poverty and unemployment will cause to the migra-

tion, marriage and the permanent residence of the rural

boys in cities and the lack of sexual balance in the vil-

lage, so that it causes the increase in the number of

the single girls in the village and the delay in their mar-

riage age followed by the increase of the damages and

social deviations. In a study entitled as “Marriage Age;

increase factors and the strategies to decrease”, Rajabi

(2007) has introduced the increase of the marriage age

as one of the important issues of the human society

because by the increase of the marriage age, the youths

are deprived of the normal sexual instinct satisfaction

way and its consequences and bene ts.

In past societies, boys and girls got married at puberty

or shortly thereafter and staying single was considered

a social shortage. But with more complexity of socie-

ties and the creation of false desires and motivations,

the social tastes changed and as a result of this taste

changing, the natural and instinctive need for mar-

riage was repressed and this process has gone so far

that today in some Western societies, young people

have totally refused marriage and regarded it as a bar-

rier to their freedom. They will turn to marriage only in

time that they lose their youthful vitality and require

a caregiver. Unfortunately, this wrong culture has also

affected Islamic societies, including our Islamic commu-

nity, so that the increasing age of marriage has caused

many problems in the country. Problems such as depres-

sion and loss of vitality among the youth, obsession in

choosing spouse, the problematic and unmarried elderly

children at home, increased anxiety especially in girls,

uncertainty, loss of freshness and beauty, hopelessness

and deciding to not to marry for reducing the desire for

marriage, carelessness in selecting a spouse, the risk of

diversion, and dozens of such problems that challenges

many of our youth.

In a study entitled as “the criteria for choosing the

education level of spouses and comparing it among male

and female students”, Forodastan et al (2008) concluded

that the education level of spouse is very important in

the view point of students and is one of the spouse selec-

tion criteria. Moreover, there is a signi cant difference

between male and female students in the education level

of spouse. The girls showed the highest the tendency

towards the higher education level of spouses and boys

Jahan Bakhshi and Fazlollahi Ghomeshi

238 STUDENTS’ MARRIAGE AGE INCREASE, AFFECTING FACTORS AND PRIORITIES BIOSCIENCE BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

showed the lowest tendency towards the higher educa-

tion level of spouses. According to the results of this

research, there is this formal attitude in the society that

the education level of men should be higher than his

wife. Moreover, statistics show the increase in the num-

ber of the girl students at universities compared to boys.

This trend can cause the increase in marriage age

of youths and especially in the number of single edu-

cated girls in the societies. Some strategies are recom-

mended in the way of reforming the current attitudes.

In a study entitled as “the assessment of the youth atti-

tude towards marriage and the recognition of its con-

sequences and effects”, Kazemipoor (2009) concluded

that in Iranian society, the family institution and the

interactions among its members has not developed as

long as the growth and the development of industri-

alization and urbanization. In this regard, divorce has

been higher among the people with lower social status.

Finally, according to the interaction view, most youth

have pay attention to rational selection for spouse selec-

tion and the attitude towards marriage has changed to a

rational selection among young people.

In a study entitled as “the study of the effect of cul-

tural factors on marriage model in Shiraz”, Kazemi and

Niazi (2010) concluded that the marriage model is more

modernized by the increase of the developmental ideal-

ism of individuals. Moreover, gender, age, value priori-

ties, income, education levels and the level of using mass

media tools have had a meaningful relationship with

marriage model. Based on the multi-variate regression

results among all the independent variables, gender var-

iables, developmental idealism, the level of using mass

media tools, age, value priorities and income explain

73 percent of the changes of dependent variable. The

gender variable has the highest effect on the marriage

model. In a study entitled as “the study of the effect-

ing factors on the marriage age of women in Iran; an

economic approach”, Zarabi and Mostafavi (2011) stated

that marriage is a social, demographic and economic

phenomenon and the marriage age is a good indicator to

study it. The research results prove the positive effect of

education level on the marriage age of women. Moreo-

ver, the urbanization variable shows negative effect in

general compared to being rural. The difference of mar-

riage age is also seen among different ethnic groups.

Also, the results show that marriage age is lower among

families of higher economic classes and  nally, marriage

age faces an increasing trend among recent age groups

compared to the past.

In a study entitled as “Effect of socializing with the

opposite sex before marriage on marriage age and will-

ing to marry among students of Tehran University”,

Farahani Khalajabadi et al (2011) concluded that the

experience of advanced sociability before marriage is

one of the determinants of late marriage among students

after controlling for sex and economic status and family

culture so that the experience of advanced sociability

with the opposite sex before marriage delays the mar-

riage about 2 years. Also, this sociability has a more

signi cant relationship with marriage among girls and

less signi cant relationship with marriage among boys.

In a study entitled as “the reasons of girls’ marriage age

increase among single girls and married women from 25

to 44 in urban centers of the country”, Habibpoorgetabi

and Ghaffari (2011) concluded that girls who marry later

have higher education, have supernal attitude towards

marriage and believe that the costs of the lost opportuni-

ties with marriage is higher than marriage opportunity.

On the other hand, if the society condition, whether

economically or socio-culturally, is not ready to accept

such changes, its negative consequences would be more

than its positive ones. In a study entitled as “An intro-

duction to the statistics of young people marriage in

Iran with the analysis of divorce and marriage statistics

and the explanation of the major barriers to marriage”,

Bankipoorfard et al (2011) concluded that cultural bar-

riers have more effects than economic barriers but they

are less paid attention to. In addition, the marriage trend

in recent years is been worrying so that marriage growth

rate has decreased despite the population growth and

divorce rate has signi cantly increased. In this condi-

tion, the marriage age average has increased especially

among girls.

The result is that the marriage of peers, training life

skills at various levels, permanent monitoring and spe-

cial attention of managers to planning and a national

commitment to solve this problem are of the ways out of

this critical situation. In a study entitled as “the relation-

ship between women’s education with their marriage

age increase and preventing strategies emphasizing

Islamic approach”, Mirsondosi and Mohammadi Qale

Se di (2011) concluded that there is a signi cant, nega-

tive and inverse relationship between the education of

the married women and the economic expectation level

of Tehran girls. In other words, the higher their educa-

tion level goes, the less their economic expectations are.

There is a direct and positive relationship between the

education of the married women and the social pressures

level so that the higher their education level goes, the

higher is the level of social pressures and the person is

more willing to get married. In a study entitled as “the

economic and social factors related to the marriage age

increase in Kermanshah”,

Moradi and Saffarian (2012) showed that there is sig-

ni cant relationship between the variables such as the

people’s attitudes towards gender equality, democratic

parenting style, authoritative parenting style, education

and enjoyment of being single, the strictness of parents

Jahan Bakhshi and Fazlollahi Ghomeshi

BIOSCIENCE BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS STUDENTS’ MARRIAGE AGE INCREASE, AFFECTING FACTORS AND PRIORITIES 239

and expectations. The results of the regression show

that the use of media, parents’ intervention, parenting

style, sexual inequality, housing and self-con dence are

respectively important in the explanation of the depend-

ent variable that have entered the regression equation.

Taken together, these variables have explained and pre-

dicted the marriage age from the conceptual atmosphere

of the dependent variable.

The results of Hosseini and Geravand (2013) as “the

assessment of the factors affecting the behavior gap and

attitudes of women to the appropriate age for marriage

in Koohdasht” indicate the fact that there is better expla-

nation of gap in behavior and the attitudes of women

towards appropriate marriage age from the socio-eco-

nomic, demographic, and cultural and ethnic back-

ground characteristics. Fazl Elahi Ghomeshi and Maleki

Tavna (2013) in “mate-selection culture among students:

criteria and priorities” indicated that mental and intellec-

tual health has the highest priority and political view is

of the least important criteria among students and mod-

esty and family and personal decency, having marital

honesty, moral agreement between the spouses, security

and peace in life, reliability, high sense of responsibility,

physical health and cultural and educational  t between

the spouses were the most important criteria for mate

selection among university students respectively. The

correlation between students’ ranking of two universi-

ties was signi cant. They concluded that students pay

minor attention to mundane and physical characteristics

compared to spiritual factors that is in more coordina-

tion with cultural and Islamic teachings.

The realistic analysis of the previously mentioned

researches show that the researches in coordination with

the objectives of this research have been very few and

the conduction of this research in the sacred city of Qom

and via referencing students emphasize its uniqueness.

However, the identi cation and prioritization of the

effecting factors on the marriage age of students is not

been previous observed with the presented trend.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The research method is practical in terms of purpose and

it is a descriptive survey in terms of data collection. The

statistical population consisted of all students of Islam-

shar Islamic Azad University in the second semester of

2015-16 academic years as about 7,000 according to

authorities. The sample included 350 people who were

selected based on the sample size estimation table of the

Morgan and Kerejcy populations (quoted in Hasan Zade,

2004) as strati ed random sampling. The information

gathering tool was the self-made questionnaire includ-

ing 31 components according to the 5-points Likert scale

with 0.89 reliability based on Cronbach’s alpha. Descrip-

tive inferential statistics such as mean, standard devia-

tion and dispersion coef cient and inferential statistics

such as single-group Z test were used.

RESULTS

The above table shows the status of the collected data

about the effecting factors on the marriage age increase

among students and its prioritization in their view.

According to the information, all the studied criteria of

Z score are higher than table Z at the con dence level

of  / 2 (2.58) = 0.01 and 0.99. According to the signi -

cance of the average difference with the average of the

expected gained score (3) with 99% reliability, it can be

concluded that 31 components of the studied compo-

nents are acceptable and favorable. In accordance with

the data, the highest average (4.35) was related to com-

ponent 2 (the unemployment among young people) is

located in the  rst position of the second with dispersion

coef cient of 22.03 and after that, component 1 (the

increase of higher levels of education among youth) is

placed in the second position with the mean of 3.84 and

dispersion coef cient of 22.09 and component 7 (the

phenomenon of high cost of living for young people)is

placed in the third position with the mean of 4.26 and

dispersion coef cient of 23.71.

The lack of income for marriage among young peo-

ple, the fear of the phenomenon of failure in life among

youth, the expansion of multiplier culture and pride and

aristocracy among youth, the excessive emphasis on the

nobility of the parties, changing standards of marriage

from easy to dif cult, the phenomenon of rivalry to sup-

ply equipment for life and the dif culty of full agree-

ment of the two sides families are in grades four to ten

respectively.

According to the students of Islamic Azad University

of Qom, military service of boys, gender equality among

young people, the excessive emphasis on the age agree-

ment of the couples, the emphasis is on having the vehi-

cle before marriage among young people, reducing the

desire for marriage, the emphasis of parents on choosing

spouse among relatives and having elder single brother

or sister as a barrier to marriage were known as the least

important components from 25 to 31 respectively.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Today, the mission of universities in knowledge produc-

tion, culture, in uencing the public culture and provid-

ing services is considered as vital the tools of which are

behavioral patterns and information including teach-

ers, administrators, staff and the audience. The univer-

Jahan Bakhshi and Fazlollahi Ghomeshi

240 STUDENTS’ MARRIAGE AGE INCREASE, AFFECTING FACTORS AND PRIORITIES BIOSCIENCE BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

Table 1. Prioritizing the factors affecting the marriage age increase among students

XXnS Z V R

1 The society approach in the increase of higher education 883 3.84 230 0.88 23.1 22.9 2

2 The unemployment among youth 1001 4.35 230 0.96 29.3 22.03 1

3 The expansion of free relationships between boys and girls 808 3.54 228 1.23 12.83 34.66 21

4 The fear of providing appropriate equipments of competitive life 889 3.88 229 1.12 18.68 28.84 9

5 The parents’ emphasis to choose spouse among relatives 632 2.76 229 1.1 3.58 39.85 30

6 Contractive form of dowries between families 769 3.39 227 1.13 11.85 33.32 17

7 The change of the criteria of easy marriage 820 3.66 224 1.06 16.47 28.82 8

8 The fear of the increasing costs of living 962 4.26 226 1.01 26.17 23.71 3

9 The military service of boys 785 3.46 227 1.26 11.46 36.41 24

10 The obsession in religious beliefs of both sides 689 3.06 225 1.06 7.96 34.58 20

11 Idealism and the belief to free life among youth 734 3.26 225 1.17 9.79 35.8 23

12 The emphasis on  nancial independence and the income of both sides 822 3.62 227 1.14 14.77 31.57 14

13 The lack of boy and girl proportion due to urbanization 711 3.13 227 1.19 8 37.99 28

14 The excessive obsession in choosing spouse 808 3.56 227 1.12 14.29 31.38 13

15 The dif culty of family agreement due to the complexity of social

relationships

801 3.54 226 1.08 14.55 30.45 10

16 The lack of suf cient income of the youth 959 4.19 229 1.07 23.87 25.55 4

17 The lack of trust to the other party due to the increase of crimes and

deviations

771 3.43 225 1.16 11.99 33.83 19

18 The excessive emphasis on the age agreement of the couples 740 3.29 225 1.23 9.63 37.36 26

19 The intensity of gender pride due to the increase of gender equality in the

society

673 3.05 221 1.14 7.14 37.28 25

20 The lack of supportive laws and institutions for marriage 832 3.68 226 1.21 14.69 32.85 16

21 The lack of tendency to permanent marriage among youth 787 3.45 228 1.33 10.82 38.48 29

22 The cultural and value emphases of the society in the marriage of siblings in

the order of birth

724 3.25 223 1.32 8.44 40.69 31

23 Attention to the occupation of the boy’s or girl’s parents 766 3.42 224 1.21 11.37 35.39 22

24 The decrease of trust to the opposite sex in the society 840 3.8 221 1.17 16.53 30.79 11

25 The excessive emphasis on having family nobility for the both parties 834 3.79 220 1.07 17.91 28.21 7

26 The excuses of parents for choosing spouse based on their will (not their

youths)

759 3.4 223 1.14 11.81 33.56 18

27 The con ict in decision making between marriage and education 765 3.45 222 1.24 9.3 37.89 27

28 The emphasis on having house and car before the marriage 727 3.27 222 1.24 9.3 37.89 27

29 The emphasis of the society on traditional criteria for marriage 791 3.53 224 1.1 14.08 31.03 12

30 The fear of the failure in marital life 874 3.92 223 1.04 20.45 26.45 5

31 The expansion of aristocracy culture among youth 852 3.86 221 1.07 18.77 27.84 6

sities affect not only the person development but also

the living methods of the people of a society through

the emergence of internal ef ciency (giving suf cient

knowledge, insights and ability) and external ef ciency

(employment and quality of life) through the develop-

ment of information, skills, character and development

of creativity and thinking (Fazl Elahi Ghomeshi and

Maleki Tavana, 2013).

They want to teach life methods to students as a

soft and in exible social system and affect the culture

of the society. Attention to the marriage age increase

among students is also one of socio-cultural phenom-

ena that universities are faced with as their mission in

order to have a completely scienti c and pure environ-

ment and free of intervening factors for learning the

thinking method or learning the learning and problem

solving method and creativity in the production of sci-

ence as the most important capital of the countries in

the current era scienti c competition and in uencing

the public culture. The results of the present study with

the aim of the identi cation and prioritization of the

effective factors on the marriage age increase among

Jahan Bakhshi and Fazlollahi Ghomeshi

BIOSCIENCE BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS STUDENTS’ MARRIAGE AGE INCREASE, AFFECTING FACTORS AND PRIORITIES 241

students of Islamshahr Islamic Azad University showed

that: unemployment, the increase of the education level

the increase of the living costs are of the most important

and effective factors of the marriage age increase among

university students respectively.

These results are partly consistent with the research

results of Habibpoorgetabi and Ghaffari (2011), Zarabi

and Mostafavi (2011), Kazemipour (2009), Forodastan

et al (2008), Majduddin (2007), Nikmanesh and Kazemi

(2006), Kazemipour (2004) and Mahmoudian (2004) in

terms of economic factors and higher education and are

congruent with the research results of Mirsondosi and

Mohammadi Qale Se di (2011) and Farahani Khalajab-

adi et al (2011) concerning the impact of cultural factors

including the pre-marital relationships between girls

and boys. The major reason seems to be mostly the envi-

ronmental conditions prevailing in the holy city of Qom.

Also, the components of the lack of income for mar-

riage, the phenomenon of fear of failure in life among

youth, the expansion of multiplier culture and pride and

aristocracy among youth, the excessive emphasis on the

nobility of the parties, changing standards of marriage

from easy to dif cult, the phenomenon of rivalry to sup-

ply equipment for life and the dif culty of full agree-

ment of the two sides families are in grades four to ten

respectively.

The other effective factors on the marriage age

increase from 10 to 20 priorities are: the decrease of

trust to the opposite sex in the society, the emphasis

of the society on traditional criteria for marriage, the

excessive obsession in choosing spouse, the emphasis

on  nancial independence and the income of both sides,

the con ict in decision making between marriage and

education, the lack of supportive laws and institutions

for marriage, contractive form of dowries between fami-

lies, the excuses of parents for choosing spouse based

on their will (not their youths), and the lack of trust to

the other party due to the increase of crimes and moral

deviations.

In contrast the following components have the least

importance among youth: the obsession in religious

beliefs of both sides, the expansion of free relationships

between boys and girls, attention to the occupation of

the boy’s or girl’s parents, idealism and the belief to free

life among youth, the military service of boys, the inten-

sity of gender pride due to the increase of gender equal-

ity in the society, the excessive emphasis on the age

agreement of the couples, the emphasis on having house

and car before the marriage, the lack of boy and girl pro-

portion due to urbanization, the lack of tendency to per-

manent marriage among youth, the parents’ emphasis

to choose spouse among relatives and the cultural and

value emphases of the society in the marriage of siblings

in the order of birth. This shows a kind of the prior-

ity of economic criteria compared to cultural and social

and especially moral issues and social values and some-

times, some anti value issues are made more important

in social discussions. The results can reveal the fact that

the cultural and social values derived from dominant

philosophy are more important among students despite

the increasing effects of economic factors on marriage.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. In order to have a healthy, happy and far from

intellectual and cultural pollutions and the adher-

ence to Islamic traditions and rules at universities,

it is suggested to conduct a large research with

precise components for planning and the pre-

requisites of easy marriage of students as one of

the major concerns of the authorities in Supreme

Leader of Iran institution.

2. Due to the consolidation of Islamic culture and

values through planning based on basic knowl-

edge, the values and symbols of mental, physical,

intellectual and cultural health of students should

be retained and the background for the production

of more knowledge should be provided.

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