گونه‌شناسی دختران ازدواج نکردۀ ایلامی برحسب دلایل تجرد

نتایج نشان می‌دهد 8 سنخ را در تفسیر وضعیت دختران ازدواج نکرده ایلام می‌توان استخراج نمود که عبارتند از : «دختران مجرد سردرگم»، «دختران مجرد سرخورده»، «تعویق ازدواج تا تحقق اهداف»، «دختران مجرد مبادله‌نگر»، «دختران مجرد استقلال‌طلب»، «انگ‌خورده‌گان»، «دخترانِ گرفتار در پنجرۀ نگرشی بسته» و «دختران مجرد کمال‌گرا». به طور کلی می‌توان از نقش قاطع تغییرات فرهنگی و بستر اقتصادی جامعه مورد مطالعه در محقق شدن شرایط لازم برای پدیده افزایش سن ازدواج دختران جامعه ایلامی صحبت کرد.

Extended abstract

Background & Purpose

In the past four decades, there has been a change in the global trend regarding marriage, which reflects an increase in the proportion of single people or those who have postponed their marriage. Many factors are effective in increasing the age of marriage and preventing marriage, and this increase is viewed as negative. This issue is becoming a social issue in Ilam society in several ways. On the one hand, the cultural characteristics of Ilam province tend to be traditional in terms of interpersonal relationships and gender preference. On the other hand, according to marriage status indexes, it seems that there is a significant change in the marital status in Ilam province compared to the whole country. According to the statements and propositions above, the present study investigated the typology of unmarried girls in Ilam. The main question of the research is what are the reasons for girls to not marrying in a society with a traditional context such as Ilam. In addition, it describes and interprets issues such as the contributing factors and consequences of such a situation in unmarried girls.

Method

In this research, the qualitative method and typological technique are used. Adopting the qualitative method in this study is because it is necessary to consider the context and cultural necessities within that context to understand some social issues. The target population in the current study is unmarried girls in Ilam. Purposive and snowball sampling were used. The sample size consisted of 16 girls that are determined based on data. In the present study, the continuous matching of the received data based on their similarities, differences, and semantic consistency has been done in a process including extraction of primary codes, secondary codes, concepts, and categories. Data saturation in the present study was based on the fact that after the interviewing and the beginning of the coding and analysis process, the researcher asked new questions based on the respondents' answers, and this process continued until the question. This process continued until no further questions and aspects were found on the subject. This research has used in-depth interviews to collect research data. All steps of the data analysis have been done using the coding technique., the opinions of experts in the field of qualitative method and researchers related to the subject have been used to validate the study. They approved the coding process.

The results show that eight types can be extracted in interpreting the situation of unmarried girls in Ilam, which are as follow:

• "Confused single girls" who are interested in the requirements of modern culture and at the same time they feel mentally and internally committed to the traditional ideas and beliefs within the context of Ilam society.
• "Disappointed single girls" who have been frustrated by the experience of love failure and have sought alternatives to this emotional emptiness and frustration through academic education or pertinacity, rejection of the suitor, and unwillingness to marry.
• "Postponing marriage until the fulfillment of goals" by entering the middle class and financially supporting the family and separating from their class. Postponing marriage was more important for this group than being married.
• "Exchange oriented single girls" who have caused challenges and remain single due to the criterion of economic capital issues.
• "Independent single girls" whose singlehood is due to the fear of losing independence, being restricted and dominated by men, and their desire for variety-seeking.
• "Stigmatized" are girls whose family or themselves have been labeled (due to a history of illness, etc.) in various ways, and their marriage opportunities have been reduced.
• "Girls caught in a closed window of attitude." They are caught up in cultural attitudes that, in various ways, hinder or limit their choices of marriage in Ilam society. These girls are usually passive in deciding to get married.
• "Perfectionist single girls" who have prominent physical characteristics and well-groomed, dignified, and well-mannered men are most important to these girls.

Conclusion

There are types that at first glance are influenced by academic experience and at second glance are influenced by literacy or illiteracy. However, the impact of these two categories was influenced by the economic context. In other words, almost all girls in the study sample did not have high family economic capital. That is, in a situation where there is a low income, the issue of having and achieving education, employment, and in other words, girls' economic independence has played a critical role. These have had significant implications for Ilam girls, and that implies the Giddens' concept of "reflexivity. The greatest variety of types among girls belonged to those with academic education, which was effective in increasing their cultural capital. So here, we can see the impact of academic experience and economic independence of girls as one of the influential factors of modernity on reflexivity in gender identity. He witnessed a rethinking of gender identity. Of course, it is necessary to mention that education is usually easier for these girls to access. On the other hand, only one type can be seen among girls with low education levels-the girls who have a traditional lifestyle. For these girls, it is not reflexivity of identity that has delayed their marriage; instead, following a customary order plays an important role, such as the marriage of an older daughter or the poverty of the family.

In general, it is suggested that cultural changes and economic conditions as the two main reasons for the singlehood of Ilamian girls. Regarding cultural changes, it can be said that in recent years, when urbanization and academic experience have increased among girls, and there has been a change in girls' attitudes. In other words, they have accepted the new cultural conditions that have brought them a kind of confusion, autonomy, power, choice, paradigm shifts, idealism, and the freedom of choice to live single. Of course, in this situation, we can't ignore the economic situation, which has played an essential role in both traditional and semi-traditional girls. These two factors have some implication in Ilam context, which has been a society with a nomadic and traditional history.

In short, it can be said that some changes in the attitudes of Ilamian girls have been in line with the changes in Iranian and international society. For some girls, such as "girls caught in a closed window of attitude" who are losing their opportunity to get married, government and family practitioners need to bring the issue of unmarried girls to the forefront of their policy-making, using Interventions that can speed up the marriage process of such girls or alleviate their problems.

Ethical considerations

Compliance with the research ethics

This study was conducted under the human research ethics.

Authors' contribution: Hasan Piri was the second and corresponding author. Mohammad Ganji was the first author. And Morteza Vahedian was the third author.

Conflict of interest: The authors acknowledged that there is no conflict of interest with any person or organization and approved the originality of the content.