The Cause of Divorce among Men and Women Referred to Marriage and Legal Office in Qazvin, Iran

BACKGROUND Marital separation and divorce can be the most unpleasant event in the adult's life, and families will be hurt by divorce event. The prevalence of divorce has been increased in last decades. Therefore, this study was conducted to identify the divorce cause among the divorce seeking men and women in Qazvin, Iran. METHOD This cross-sectional study was conducted among 572 (400 women and 172 men) subjects who requested for divorce and were referred to divorce and marriage office of Qazvin province during 3 month in 2009. Data were collected by self - administered questionnaire, interviewing subjects and using Likert scale. Data were analyzed by Chi- Square test and Mann-Whitney (SPSS version 16). RESULTS The participants of the study included 400 women (26.5 ± 7.4 years) and 172 men. In view points of women the primary wrong mate selection was main cause of divorce (59.8%), but the men believed that the families and relatives interference was the main reason for separation (43.7%). Among the respondents, mean score of "dependency to their families" and "unmet emotional needs" were 3.44 ± 1.6 and 3.86 ± 1.4 respectively. In addition mean score of infertility among men and women were 1.37 ± 1.0 and 1.29 ± 0.9 respectively. CONCLUSION Wrong mate selection, unmet emotional needs, families' interference, and "dependency to families" are more important factors than traditional factors which are sexual or physical factors.