[Criteria of marrying couples for mate selection in Tehran]

ABSTRACT

Considering the impact of family health on psychosocial health of community which itself depends on successful marriage with the basis of proper criteria for mate selection, and regarding our population that mostly consists of the youth and subsequent significant growing marriage and divorce rate, this study was conducted to identify the prioritized mate-selection criterion of marrying couples in Tehran. The total of 252 marrying couples referriing to urban health centers affiliated to Tehran university of medical sciences were randomly selected via a multi-stage sampling method. Data were collected by a questionnaire validated by content validity and made reliable by Cronbach's alpha. It consisted of 3 distinct parts, including demographics [15 questions], family characteristics, appearance, emotional, socioeconomical and sociocultural status [44 questions] and one open question. A six-rate scale was designed for the questions from 0 [no importance] to 5 [very important]. The first priorities included honesty [Mean=98.37%], loyalty [Mean=97.88%], understanding [Mean=96.45%], appropriate manner [Mean=96.26%], no addiction [Mean=95.86%], assertiveness [either at work or in life] [Mean= 94.10%] and serenity [Mean= 92.95%]. The last priorities for mate selection were fellow-citizenship [Mean=43.83%], prosperity [Mean=43.81%] and colleagueship [Mean=39.48%]. It is concluded that psychological health is the most important topic through the mate-selection criterion, whereas the cultural and religious subjects are the least important ones