Document Type : Research/Original/Regular

Authors

• Mohammad Hossein Afshari Kermani ¹
• Hamid Reza Yazdani ²
• Mohammad Hossein Hashemian ³

¹ Master in Strategic Management of Culture, Baqir al-Olum University and Master in Positive Psychology (University of Quran and Hadith), Qom, Iran.

² Assistant Professor of Human Resource Management, Faculty of Management and Accounting, Farabi Campus, University of Tehran, Iran.

³ Associate Professor, Department of Social Sciences, Baqir al-Olum University, Qom, Iran.

Abstract

The family, as a valuable institution, has been considered in all cultures for its very important functions. Therefore, it is necessary to properly recognize everything that damages the structure of the family and take action to correct it.
The phenomenon of extramarital affairs, as one of the harms of the family, in recent decades has had adverse consequences for the individual, family and society. Depression, loss of spouse trust, emotional divorce, and separation are some of the consequences.
This study aims to explain the mental patterns of family counselors in relation to the emergence of the issue of extramarital affairs of couples in Tehran by using the Q method. Since this method is one of the practical methods in discovering mental patterns, this method has been used. In this study, 15 family counselors participated, and finally, 5 mental models (environmentalists, familyists, believers, communists and psychologists) were discovered and explained as a mental model in the emergence of these relationships. To describe these 5 mindsets, 34 factors extracted from scientific research have been used.

Highlights

Result

      Using Q methodology and exploring the participants' perspective and mentality (15 experts in women and family and family counselors), five different subjective and thinking patterns about extramarital relationships among couples in Tehran were identified. These five mental patterns are:

1. Environmentalists; factors including the difficulty of divorce, marriage schema, giving women a sense of relief, poverty and wealth, and deviant friends.
2. Family-oriented individuals; factors including the family of origins, gender, heterogeneity in spouse selection, social media and networks, and empty nest.
3. Belief-oriented individuals; factors including the age of the betraying partner, permissiveness attitude of society, taking advantage of the possibility of polygamy, failure to meet the spouse's emotional needs, and knowing extramarital affairs as a harmless relationship.
4. Communication-oriented individuals; factors including mixed job environment, type of job, age of the betraying partner, the transition from tradition to modernity, and contaminated society.
5. Psych-oriented individuals; factors including mental disorders, knowing extramarital affairs as a harmless relationship, proving masculinity and a sense of youthfulness, the family of origins, and poverty and wealth.

Conclusion

     Since the family has a vital role in the emergence of these relationships, it is necessary to formulate appropriate policies for the family. Thus, we will highlight some of these effective policies in reducing extramarital relationships.

1. Implementing the project "Every family, a family psychologist."
2. Implementing pre-marital psychological courses for boys and girls who intend to get married.
3. Increasing media literacy and managing cyberspace and social media by the government and directing it towards family stability.
4. Developing software for teaching marital issues and sexual health for couples based on Islamic-Iranian culture.
5. Producing series and movies related to the harms and consequences of extramarital relationships.
6. "Empty Nest" psychological management: Due to declining population rates, "population aging" will become one of the social issues in the next few decades. According to the research findings, one of the influential factors in the occurrence of extramarital affairs is the house empty of children, which can occur for two reasons: 1) lack of children 2) adult children's leaving home.

     However, what is meant by the term "empty nest" is the second case, adult children's leaving home, in which after a period of time from their lives until the children were at home, the poor communication between the couple not very obvious and after the children leave home to get married or study in university, this old wound reappears. Therefore, appropriate policies should be considered for this type of family and their leisure time should be managed; Apart from the fact that the culture of joining the ties of kinship and visiting parents should be revived in Iranian culture. One of the appropriate policies that can be considered for these families is the possibility of continuing their education.

Keywords

• Mental patterns
• Q method
• extramarital affair
• marital infidelity
• family

20.1001.1.23452692.1401.10.1.2.1

Main Subjects

• Woman and family