A Study onCulturalFactors Associated with Attitudes towardsAbortion (CaseStudy: 18-29 Year-old Youth in Shiraz City)

The aim of this study is to evaluate the cultural factors associated with attitudes toward abortion. The research population consisted of six-hundred youngstersin Shiraz, ranging from 18 to 29, whowere selected randomly. The data was collected through conducting questionnaires. This study included eight hypotheses; two of which were rejected.Among the demographic variables (age, sex, and number of children), all the variables except for number of children were seen to be statistically significant in the youth attitudes towards abortion. Among the cultural variables (religious values, religious beliefs,rate of using local and foreign media, attitudes towards opposite-sex relations prior to marriage, and abortion experience of the respondents), all the variables were seen to be statistically significant except for the abortion experience of the respondents whichdid notshowa significant relationship with the dependent variable of the study. The results of multivariate regression and unvaried and multivariate testsshow that women holda more favorableattitude towards abortion than men, and religious values and religious beliefs were effective in more negative attitudes towards abortion.