The Explanation of the Effect of Religious Orientation on Attitudes to Family Stability (Case Study: Citizens of Isfahan City)

Extended Abstract
 
Introduction and Objectives: The family, as the most fundamental and essential institution of society, has played a fundamental and influential role in the formation of societies and their cohesion throughout history in various forms; therefore, its preservation and sustainability is one of the main priorities of any social system. Iranian society is known as a society that has been experiencing a transitional state between tradition and modernity over the past few decades. A kind of incomplete and unfinished experience that has lasted for many years and, despite the wide range of value changes in various areas of social life, still lives in an intermediate state between tradition and modernity; in fact, although most traditional values still have a certain validity among parts of society, these values have been weakened and the tendency towards the values of the modern world has been strengthened among a large part of citizens (especially the younger generation). Modern values that promote new forms of relationships between men and women in the family, as well as new types of marriage, are not in line with and appropriate to traditional forms of marriage. The consequence of this situation is the creation of fundamental challenges in the continuity and stability of the family in its traditional and common form and a tendency towards a kind of instability and transformation in it. The society studied in the present study is also experiencing the same situation and is facing a kind of rupture and instability in the family sphere. Given the importance of religious beliefs on the strength and stability of the family, this study, within the framework of a quantitative research approach, sought to answer the question: What effect has religious orientation had on the attitude towards family stability among the citizens of Isfahan who are both traditional and religious and have experienced the values of the modern world in various forms in recent years? Accordingly, the main goal of the study is to explain the effect of religious orientation on the attitude towards family stability.
Method: The present study was conducted within the framework of the positivist paradigm, a quantitative research approach, and using a survey method. The population is all married men and women in Isfahan at the time of the study, of which 459 were examined as the sample size. The multistage cluster sampling was used in the present study, and the data collection tool was a questionnaire. The data were analyzed at two descriptive and inferential levels, and SPSS and AMOS Graphic were applied to analyze the data.
Results: The findings indicate that the attitude towards family stability among the citizens of Isfahan is above average and in a relatively favorable state. The results of the study show that internal and external religious orientations have a high degree of ability to explain the variance of the attitude towards family stability variable. The effect of these variables on the attitude towards family stability is direct and significant; in fact, the internal and external religious orientation variables can strengthen the attitude towards family stability among a large part of the population of the study.
 
Conclusion: The present study examined the relationship between religious orientation and attitude towards family stability. Family stability is one of the manifestations of social solidarity, especially in societies where traditional structures still play a decisive role in maintaining its value and normative elements. In contrast, religious attitudes are one of the fundamental factors that can help strengthen social solidarity in general and family stability in particular. This issue was also confirmed in the results of the present study. Based on them, religious orientation has a high degree of ability to explain the variance of the attitude towards family stability; accordingly, it can be said that strengthening religious orientation will lead to strengthening the attitude towards family stability. This issue can be explained within the framework of the theoretical approach of functional structuralism. This approach emphasizes factors that maintain social cohesion and order and lead to the stability of society. Religiosity and religious attitudes are one of these fundamental factors; in fact, religiosity and religious orientation cause the individual’s ties to society and institutions such as the family to be strengthened, and this will ultimately lead to a form of stability. In general, it can be said that religious orientation and religiosity act as an internal and external protection to protect the existing value-normative system and, in general, social cohesion and order. People who have high religious attitudes have a sacrosanct view of the family. From their perspective, the family is considered the foundation of social life, and weakening the elements that make up its stability weakens the social system. From their view, weakening the family is also considered a kind of weakening of religion. From their perspective, the family has been formed on the basis of religious attitudes and religiosity in Iranian society, and maintaining its stability is considered a kind of preserving the religious elements of society. Therefore, people with a stronger religious orientation also have a more positive attitude towards family stability and are likely to pursue the same issue in their own objective, everyday behaviors.