Norms, attitude and sexual conduct among female college students in Tehran : implications for reproductive health policy and research

Despite social, cultural and religious prohibitions on premarital sexual relationships in Iran, some evidence suggests that premarital heterosexual relationships and sex among young people may be increasing, but no study has been conducted which gives a comprehensive picture of perceived societal norms, attitudes, sexuality and the nature and process of heterosexual relationships among unmarried young females in Iran. This study aimed to investigate and compare the views and conduct of young female college students with perceived societal norms. The objectives included; exploring sexual norms and attitudes, assessing the social and individual factors responsible for variation in norms, attitude, and behaviour of female college students and finally exploring the process and circumstances of sexual behaviour. Complementary qualitative and survey methods were used. The qualitative research includes 4 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and 30 In-Depth Interviews (IDIs). FGDs explored societal norms on pre-marital sexuality, while IDIs explored more personal attitudes and behaviours in greater depth. The survey was conducted in 2005-6 on a sample of 1743 female undergraduate students in four multidisciplinary universities in Tehran. A self-administered questionnaire was applied. This study revealed an ambiguity with regard to social acceptability of premarital heterosexual relationships, while sexual contact before marriage was perceived as socially proscribed. Personal attitudes were considerably more tolerant of such premarital relationships and sex than societal norms. These findings suggest that traditional norms on heterosexual relationships are eroding among young people. Within this complex attitudinal context, nearly half of unmarried women reported premarital friendships with men and more than one-fifth reported any type of sex (23%). Low self-efficacy, peers' liberal norms on virginity, older age, parents' liberal attitude and poor family relationships were predictors of ever having sexual contact. Qualitative findings showed that gender double-standards dictate restrictions for women, but permit sexual licence for men and owing to men's preference for a virgin bride, most relationships which involve sex are unlikely to result in marriage. Therefore although young people have adopted some liberal values in their premarital relationships their marriage still follows traditional and cultural values. These results have implications for programmes designed to improve young people's reproductive health in Iran.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Women’s perception of sexual socialization in Iran: A qualitative study

Introduction: Sexual behavior and performance is not only influenced by biological factors but also, affected by sexual socialization. Family and society are two key institutions over this procedure. The aim of this study was exploring the married women’s perceptions of social structure related to sexuality in Iran. Method: This was a qualitative study with interpretive approach and conventional content analysis strategy. Purposive sampling was carried out of 5 health care centers of university affiliated centers and one health institute in Tehran and Shiraz. Data collection was performed through 17 in-depth interviews, and 14 sexual life narratives to reach to data saturation. Constant comparative method was used to analyze concurrently with the data collection. Results: Two main categories emerged as “parent’s conservation related to child’s sexuality issues” and “passive social support systems”. The main theme emerged study was “passive sexual socialization”. Conclusion: Findings indicate that there is an essential need for revising current paradigm about sexuality in Iran. Not only, the conservative and passive approach is not helpful for resolving difficulties surround this issue, but also, leads to greater vulnerabilities. Therefore, based on the social constructionism, in Iran, age-specific sexuality education and providing sexual health care in public health care system based on the Islamic ideology, social norms, and moral principles are suggested. Keywords: Sexuality issues, content analysis, women, family, social structur

Norms, attitude and sexual conduct among female college students in Tehran: implications for reproductive health policy and research

Despite social, cultural and religious prohibitions on premarital sexual relationships in Iran, some evidence suggests that premarital heterosexual relationships and sex among young people may be increasing, but no study has been conducted which gives a comprehensive picture of perceived societal norms, attitudes, sexuality and the nature and process of heterosexual relationships among unmarried young females in Iran. This study aimed to investigate and compare the views and conduct of young female college students with perceived societal norms. The objectives included; exploring sexual norms and attitudes, assessing the social and individual factors responsible for variation in norms, attitude, and behaviour of female college students and finally exploring the process and circumstances of sexual behaviour. Complementary qualitative and survey methods were used. The qualitative research includes 4 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and 30 In-Depth Interviews (IDIs). FGDs explored societal norms on pre-marital sexuality, while IDIs explored more personal attitudes and behaviours in greater depth. The survey was conducted in 2005-6 on a sample of 1743 female undergraduate students in four multidisciplinary universities in Tehran. A self-administered questionnaire was applied. This study revealed an ambiguity with regard to social acceptability of premarital heterosexual relationships, while sexual contact before marriage was perceived as socially proscribed. Personal attitudes were considerably more tolerant of such premarital relationships and sex than societal norms. These findings suggest that traditional norms on heterosexual relationships are eroding among young people. Within this complex attitudinal context, nearly half of unmarried women reported premarital friendships with men and more than one-fifth reported any type of sex (23%). Low self-efficacy, peers' liberal norms on virginity, older age, parents' liberal attitude and poor family relationships were predictors of ever having sexual contact. Qualitative findings showed that gender double-standards dictate restrictions for women, but permit sexual licence for men and owing to men's preference for a virgin bride, most relationships which involve sex are unlikely to result in marriage. Therefore although young people have adopted some liberal values in their premarital relationships their marriage still follows traditional and cultural values. These results have implications for programmes designed to improve young people's reproductive health in Iran

Associations between family factors and premarital heterosexual relationships among female college students in Tehran.

CONTEXT: Although premarital heterosexual relationships, especially those involving sexual contact, are discouraged in Iran, particularly for females, a considerable minority of young people are involved in such relationships. However, the determinants of such relationships have not been identified, especially those pertaining to family. METHODS: In 2005-2006, a random sample of 1,378 unmarried female college students from four universities in Tehran completed anonymous, self-administered surveys that asked whether the respondent had ever had a premarital heterosexual relationship. Bivariate and multivariate regression analyses were conducted to examine associations between such relationships and family factors, including socioeconomic measures, parent-child communication and closeness, family values and atmosphere, and parental control. RESULTS: Having had a boyfriend was positively associated with paternal income (odds ratio, 1.3), maternal educational attainment (1.3) and more liberal family values (1.3), and negatively associated with parent-child closeness (0.6). Very strict and very relaxed parental control during adolescence were both associated with having had a boyfriend, but only the former was associated with having had premarital sex. In addition, respondents were more likely to have had premarital intercourse if they did not live with both parents (2.0) or if their family had more liberal values (1.3); they had reduced odds of having had sex if they had a closer relationship with their parents (0.7). CONCLUSION: Good family relationships may reduce the likelihood that youth will engage in premarital sex, possibly by fostering parent-child closeness. Moderate parental control may discourage premarital relationships more effectively than lesser or greater degrees of control

Age at natural menopause in Iran.

OBJECTIVES: Estimation of mean and median age at menopause among Iranian women using a cumulative distribution by region. METHODS: The number of 8194 women aged between 30 and 65+ who enrolled in National Health Survey in the year 2000 in Iran through cluster sampling were studied and according to their age and the onset of their menopause (12 month consecutive menstrual cessation), the pattern of age at natural menopause has been described using a cumulative distribution. RESULTS: The median age of menopause has been calculated to be 49.9, 49.2, and 49.6 years in urban, rural, and total population, respectively. While the mean age at menopause in total population was 50.4 years (S.D.=4.3). As it has been shown, the median age of menopause in rural areas (49.2) is earlier than urban areas (49.9). This difference is statistically significant (95% CI: 1.00066, 1.03363). CONCLUSION: There are different factors influencing age at natural menopause but there are not certain and homogenous results about those factors in different studies. Therefore, it is obvious that exploring these factors in different regions in Iran merit to be done

Effect of theory-based intervention to promote physical activity among adolescent girls: a randomized control trial

Background: Physical activity (PA) rates decline among most high school female students, and due to cultural restrictions, the reduction of physical activity might be exacerbated in female Iranian adolescents. Objective: To determine the effects of the physical activity education theory-based intervention to promote activity among adolescent girls. Methods: This randomized clinical trial was conducted at public high schools in Tehran, Iran, from September 2015 to July 2016 on 578 girls. The subjects were assigned randomly to two groups of experiment and control (n=289 per group). All participants in the experimental group received an educational program based on a modified TPB. Measures were assessed before and 6 months after the experiment. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 23. We used descriptive statistics, multilevel analysis, Likelihood Ratio (LR) test, P-value less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: Five hundred and seventy-eight participants with a mean age of 14.26±0.96 years were studied in two groups of experiment (n=289) and control (n=289). Moreover, adjusted for the baseline values, the mean of the scores of the knowledge (84.1±13.6), attitude (31.2±13.6), subjective norm (40.4±11.1), behavioral intention (34.3±14.7), perceived behavioral control (38.4±11.6), perceived parental control (42.9±14.2), behavioral (42.6±17.1) was significantly higher in the experiment group compared with the control group (p<0.001). Conclusions: The results of this study implicate that theory based educational intervention is considered to be more effective in improving physical activity in adolescents. This result can be used to increase adolescent’s health promotion. Trial registration: The trial was registered at the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRST) with the identification number: IRCT2015070623089N2. Funding: The authors received no financial support for the research from Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences

Sexual risk-taking behaviors among boys aged 15-18 years in Tehran.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the extent and potential correlates of sexual risk-taking behaviors among adolescent boys aged 15-18 in metropolitan Tehran. METHODS: Data were collected from a population-based, cross-sectional survey of adolescent males (ages 15-18) residing in Tehran, Iran. Of 1385 subjects, 382 reported sexual experience (27.7%). The article is mainly considering sexually experienced subjects. Two factors were considered as sexual risk-taking behavior ("not using condom or inconsistent condom use in sexual contacts" and "ever had multiple sexual partners in lifetime." Several other factors were considered as independent variables and their relations were assessed using t test, chi2 test, and logistic regression models. RESULTS: Having no access to Internet, feeling regretful at sexual debut, having one sexual partner in lifetime and lower knowledge of condoms are predictors of condom non-use. Older age, using alcoholic drinks, early sexual debut, and poor knowledge of reproductive physiology are predictors of multiple sexual partners among adolescent boys aged 15-18 years. CONCLUSION: Appropriate interventional programs should be implemented for adolescents in Iran to encourage and enable them to delay first sex and abstain unwanted and unplanned penetrative sex, to stress the health risks of alcohol use in terms of sexual health and finally to enhance their knowledge on different aspects of reproductive health particularly prevention against STI/HIV