Journal of Social Sciences 6 (1): 8-13, 2010
ISSN 1549-3652
© 2010 Science Publications
Corresponding Author: Ali Edalati, Department of Family Ecology, Faculty of Human Ecology, University Putra Malaysia,
Malaysia Tel: 0060122793206
8
Family Values and Female’s Psychological Aggression
Ali Edalati, Ma’rof Redzuan, Mariani Mansor and Mansor Abu Talib
Department of Family Ecology, Faculty of Human Ecology, University Putra Malaysia, Malaysia
Abstract: Problem statement: The main objective of the current study is to determine the
relationship between women’s perceptions toward Iranian family values with psychological
aggression. Approach: All of the randomly selected 337 wives who suffered from level of
psychological aggression were included in this study. Straus questionnaire (CTS) is the method used to
measure psychological aggression. It shows a negative relationship between family values (inequality
in affairs and inequality in regulation) and psychological aggression. It has also shown that there is no
relationship between values of inequality in access job and inequality in political in relation to
psychological aggression. Social learning theory is used in order to gain a thorough understanding of
the issue. The multivariate regression analysis is utilized to answer the last objective. Results: The
analysis showed that among the four predictor variables, two of which variables such as inequality in
affairs and inequality in regulation were found to be significant in explaining the observed variation in
psychological aggression (DV). Conclusion: Generally, the final model has explained 4% of total
observed variance in psychological aggression.
Key words: Women aggression, family values, female aggression, psychological aggression
INTRODUCTION
The Iranian society is experiencing changes from a
traditional society to a modern status. As a result, the
Iranian families, especially the women of these
families, are always been traditionally facing more
problems compared to other family members. In other
words, modern society values and the current views put
the woman in bad conditions. Women are not expected
by the society to become uncontrollable, angry and hard
as far as they are considered to be the symbol of
kindness, peace and benevolence. Accordingly, this
unexpected change of behaviour among women may be
the result of the neglect and ignorance of their rights
from early birth onwards. Thus, it is worth to
investigate scholastically these differences which will
affect the family in particular and the society in general.
Social learning theory clearly recognizes the fact that
people can learn behaviour without directly
experiencing it and in absence of any rewards (new
values and norms). However, rewards are very
important in motivating people to later perform the
behaviour. In the current research, the equality of
situation in the family are also been considered.
On the other hand, the roles played by factors-
gender-bias and variables-across families are almost
obvious worldwide. In Iran, the structure of family
changes and is under the processes of structuring and
restructuring continuously. Therefore, any attitude
towards family should benefit from the new
generation’s attitude toward the concept of family as
well as the society values. This ensures a permanent
and sustainable development of value-system with
respect to individuals’ rights regardless of their gender.
It sounds wise to assume that a man who lives in a
patriarchal society will not apprehend to this problem.
For instance, according to the Iranian constitution and
religion (consist of both rules of civic law and rules of
Shariat), a wife cannot leave the house without her
husband’s permission. The insurance for a woman’s
death in an accident is half of a man’s based on the
stated policy.
After the divorce, children’s protection is always
given to the man. More importantly, the man has the
right to divorce his wife. The laws and rules do not give
such rights to the women. Women’s testimony in the
court is not equal to men in terms of the numbers. That
is, two women are needed to testify in the court if in
case they are going to be considered as witnesses. The
girl cannot marry without her father’s permission (Kar,
2000a). Based on the current practice, it is therefore an
absolute need to analyze women’s problems from
different points of view such as family values,
economical, social, political and judicial perspectives.