Volume 11, Issue 3 (May & Jun 2021)                   J Research Health 2021, 11(3): 139-146 | Back to browse issues page


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Eskafi Noghani M, Gorgidge F, Hojjati Shargh A. A Systematic Review of Quantitative and Qualitative Research on Divorce Factor. J Research Health 2021; 11 (3) :139-146
URL: http://jrh.gmu.ac.ir/article-1-1456-en.html
1- Department of Social Science, School of Humanities, Gonabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Gonabad, Iran. , meskafi@yahoo.com
2- Department of Social Science, Payam-e-Noor University, Mashhad, Iran.
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1. Introduction
Family is one of the important foundations in each country and plays a crucial role in the progress of countries. Today, family is subjected to divorce as a threat. According to the latest statistics by the National Organization for Civil Registration, the rate of divorce has increased by 2.5 times in 14 years from 2001 to 2014. In 2001, one out of 10.58 marriages ended in divorce; this rate reached one out of 4.4 marriages in 2014. Meanwhile, in 2010, this rate became one out of 6.5. Moreover, this issue originates from the fact that teenagers and youths comprise the majority of the population, and marriage and divorce are critical issues for them. Studying the divorce phenomenon carries much weight with national planning and policy, since many problems emerging after divorce may have unpredicted and unwanted sociocultural consequences [1].
Various research has been conducted on divorce but a review study is needed to employ mixed methods (quantitative + qualitative). Among the research methods, the reviews include different types, one of which is the systematic review. This method tries to use and combine the research and evidence focused on certain questions. To achieve this, systematic, clear, formal, and recyclable procedures and processes are implemented. The cases that include the systematic review of the previous studies are called a systematic review of the research background. This kind of review results in four main goals: 1) proving a kind of similarity and closeness in the body of the given knowledge and confirming and stabilizing its acceptance; 2) revealing the direction of the previous research and how the current research projects are related to them; 3) combining and summarizing what is known in a research area; and 4) learning from others and provoking new thoughts. However, it is more likely to reach the second and third goals [2].
Regarding that numerous studies have been carried out on divorce in Iran, the systematic review could be a good method for combining the results. On the other hand, research into divorce enjoying systematic review is very few. According to our literature search, just a few studies have employed this method [3]. Although a large number of studies have investigated divorce, they have presented divergent results owing to diverse variables and methods, different samples and sampling methods, and the other features of these studies focusing on the same question. Hence, employing the systematic review method, we intend to investigate quantitative and qualitative studies on the causes of divorce in Iran (2005-2015).

2. Methods
The research method used in this study was the systematic review. The research community included all the qualitative and quantitative studies and research projects on divorce and its causes in Iran from 2006 to 2016. Out of this community, 70 studies were selected and reviewed after the pilot study to identify the eligible ones. The researchers investigated the relevant papers in Noormags, Magiran, www.ensani.ir, and SID databases from 2006 to 2016, using the keywords of divorce and its causes, couple incompatibility, marital satisfaction, and family conflict. 
The entry criteria included the systematic review as the research method of the study, the publication of the paper in Iranian periodicals (ISC) from 2006 to 2016, and studies in the Farsi language. Thus, out of the 70 papers, 56 remained after omitting the repeated ones and those that were similar or overlapped. The systematic review was undertaken in seven steps: specifying the research question, the systematic literature review, and searching and selecting proper texts. Also, the researchers omitted the non-review papers during the reinvestigation. Next, the methodological quality was assessed, and in the screening stage, improper, irrelevant, and low validity studies were eliminated. Therefore, 14 papers were omitted out of 70 papers and 56 remained for further analysis [4-37]. In the fourth step, the information was extracted from the papers. In the fifth step, the quantitative and qualitative findings were analyzed and combined by separation, categorization, and summarizing the variables affecting divorce, also, the frequency tables were obtained. The sixth step entailed quality control, and the findings were revealed in the seventh step. 
After completing the methodological steps, to investigate the validity and reliability of the results, the designed model was presented in focused groups’ sessions, in which five experts in social sciences and management participated. The validity was obtained via content validity that originated from two dimensions. The first one involves the use of the elements and causes of the previous models and leads to the validity of the model. The second one flows from the fact that the focused groups suggested no change for the model, proving its validity. In the designing step, the criteria of the previous models were considered as the codes and considering their similarity in meaning, they were merged and the concepts were created. For assessing the reliability of the designed model, the kappa coefficient was employed, so that another person who was blind about the merging and creation of the concept classified the codes under the concepts. Then, the concepts presented by the researchers were compared with those created by the person. Finally, considering the number of similar concepts created and comparing the different ones, the kappa coefficient was obtained to be 0.684. 

3. Results
According to Table 1, among the demographic factors, the frequency of educational difference variable is 7.14% in the qualitative studies. Also, the variables of the age difference and educational difference with the frequency of 10.71% comprise the largest proportions in the quantitative studies [4-37].




According to Table 2, marital infidelity with the frequency of 10.71% and 14.28% respectively in the quantitative and qualitative studies is the most frequent sexual factor [4-37].


Table 3 elicits that among personality trait factors, addiction with the frequency of 14.28% and 32.14% in quantitative and qualitative studies, respectively comprises the largest proportion [4-37].


Table 4 shows that among marital communication harms in both types of studies, the largest proportions belong to verbal and physical violence with the frequency of 14.28% and 21.42%, respectively [4-37].


According to Table 5, economic problems with the frequency of 10.71% is the most frequent economic factor in both types of studies. Also, among social factors, the interference of families and others (friends and relatives) comprises the largest proportion with the frequency of 17.85% and 21.42% in the quantitative and qualitative research, respectively. Among cultural factors, the highest frequencies belong to the steadfastness of couples in religious beliefs with the frequency of 10.71% in the quantitative studies, and the negative effect of media and cultural and individual differences variables with the frequency of 10.71% in the qualitative studies (Table 5).





4. Discussion
Considering that in a systematic review the researcher finally concludes by investigating the common factors in quantitative and qualitative studies, there should be an exact theoretical base in the outcome to claim that it covers all the results. Concerning the fact that divorce is a pervasive phenomenon, various causes affect its occurrence at the macro, middle, and micro levels. Hence, the research findings are presented via employing the metatheory by Raymond Boudon for analyzing social problems. In the new sociology of transformations, Boudon has focused on three processes that are made up of the environment, the interdependence system, and the output, which can be used to analyze such social problems. Figure 1 shows the repeated process in the Boudon social analysis, to which the researchers have adapted the result of the study.




Relying on the results of the quantitative and qualitative studies and considering the effects of the change of values and lifestyle owing to modernity and the growth of urbanization, a part of such turmoil can be seen in the various disagreements between couples. Along with urbanization growth and modernity, socioeconomic development was accelerated, which emerged in five categories of demographic, cultural, economic, social, and individual factors in various issues, including married life. Population density converted the mechanical solidarity into the organic one. When mechanical solidarity weakened in rural areas, the consensus between people decreased and the conflicts arising from individual differences increased. In this situation, the individual conscience has grown gradually and the effects of the collective conscience have been undermined. “Awareness of the individuality originates from the historic flow of development” [38]. Hence, the similarities declined and the distinctions raised little by little. As Durkheim said: “social differentiation is the sign of the new societies and the condition that creates individual freedom” [38]. Therefore, the person who has become aware or gained individuality does not follow any social rule easily and might be in trouble with the group. It can be said that individuality causes a member of a society to feel distant from the group so that the group loses its social coherence, in a way that the person does not concur with the group attitudes and values. This disagreement reveals itself in various ways. The increase and domination of the individual conscience over the collective one, individuality, the change of lifestyle, and the weakening of the unequal warm interactions are some of the transformations of values, and while the situation continues, the person comes into conflict and disagreement with the group members. 
The contemporary analyses of the marital breakdown usually state that the emergence of contrasts (whether from the spouses’ or onlookers’ point of view) is an important criterion that helps predict the success of the development of family relationships [39]. Budon [40] believes that we should put the social human in contrast with economic human. He states that social humans cannot always realize their priorities, but they do what their habits, internalized values, and in general, various moral, cognitive, and formal conditions make them do. It is supposed that a part of the social humans’ choices as an actor is determined by their social situation structure and their position in it. Based on the Boudon theory, the unit of analysis in this paper is the interdependence system. It means the system that dominates the social humans externally and affects their behavior so that their role is faint. Ultimately, this system produces some outputs, which the social actors did not intend. In other words, their ultimate and displayed behavior is different from their intention. Boudon believes that the new social transformations, even on the level of macro sociology, are not possible unless we lower the analysis level to the simplest “social agents or actors that comprise the interdependence systems attracting sociologists” [40]. The consequence he wanted to explain is the feature of the interdependence system, not that of the people. On the other hand, this feature of the system does not stem from the willpower or intentions of the ones constituting the interdependence system. The social agents did not plan such disagreements and disputes as to the results of the process, but the procedure of the process does not have any other cause rather than the decisions made by the simple social agents comprising the interdependence system. 

5. Conclusion
Given the fact that the majority of our country population is made up of teenagers and the youth, for whom marriage and divorce are two significant issues, studying divorce is of prime importance, especially for national policy and planning, because many problems arising with the occurrence of divorce may have unwanted sociocultural consequences. Marital breakdowns and the collapse of the family have numerous demographic and socioeconomic outcomes. Moreover, divorce deprives children of having a mother or father, which has detrimental mental and affective repercussions on children, especially the young ones. Besides the negative effects, divorce has a positive side, such as retrieving women’s independence and the expansion of individuality. However, its negative mental, physical, and socioeconomic consequences outweigh the positive ones. In a similar way that marriage causes two families to be closer, divorce may collapse the relationship and lead to a person’s breakdown and misery. 
The rate of divorce is increasing daily and flows from the economic situation, unemployment, job, and traditions. The factors that have had the greatest effects on the rate of divorce result from economic problems, the interference of families, having unrealistic dreams, addiction, and many other sociocultural, economic and individual factors. Although research has been conducted regarding divorce, diverse variables and methods, different samples and sampling processes, and other features of such studies that revolve around a common question make the review of this subject and these studies vital from seven dimensions. 
The researchers have adopted the systematic review in this paper, but social and psychological research in Iran suffers from the shortage of divorce review studies. However, conducting review studies helps us obtain the common factors affecting divorce in quantitative and qualitative research. Furthermore, there is a good accumulation of such studies in Iran. On the other hand, comparing the results of the quantitative and qualitative studies and the frequency of variables affecting divorce indicate that research on divorce should enjoy mixed methods or be more qualitative so that more realistic and exact data are obtained.

Ethical Considerations
Compliance with ethical guidelines

All ethical principles are considered in this article. The participants were informed about the purpose of the research and its implementation stages. They were also assured about the confidentiality of their information and were free to leave the study whenever they wished, and if desired, the research results would be available to them.

Funding
The paper was extracted from the MA. thesis of the first author at the the Department of Socioogy, Payam-e-Noor University of Masad.

Authors' contributions
Study design, data collection and analysis: Maryam Eskafi Noghani and Farideh Gorgidge; Manuscript preparation: All authors.

Conflict of interest
The authors declared no conflict of interest.

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Type of Study: Short Communication | Subject: ● Psychosocial Health
Received: 2019/09/2 | Accepted: 2020/07/22 | Published: 2021/06/1

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