A Sociological Study of Marital Violence and the Impact of Online Social Networks on it (Case Study: Marital Couples of Tehran)

Domestic violence is one of the most important causes of family instability and has destructive effects on the emotional atmosphere of the family, children and society. The continuation of violent patterns and behaviors in the family can spread violence to social relations. Meanwhile, the emergence of virtual social networks has had a dual effect on this social phenomenon. The purpose of this study is to investigate domestic violence and the impact of virtual social networks on it. The research method is survey and the statistical population includes married people in Tehran. The sample size is equal to 340 couples in Tehran, which is determined by Cochran's formula. The sampling method is a multi-stage cluster sampling method and the samples of each cluster are systematically selected randomly. Finding shows that 93.5% of Tehranian couples have experienced some level of domestic violence in the past year. Although the intensity of violence experienced was higher among women than men and among middle-aged couples than young people and adults. There was a statistically significant difference between the violence experienced by men and women (p = 0.28). There wasn’t significant difference between among age groups (p = 0.974). According to the research findings, there is a significant relationship between marital violence and duration of use (r = -0.145), presence with real identity (r = -0.219) and the degree of dependence on virtual social networks (r = 0.128). Regression analysis showed that the use of virtual social networks explains 6.8% of the changes in violence between couples. Among the dimensions of virtual social networks, the variables of usage time (β = -0.171) and presence with real identity in virtual social networks (β = -0.189) have a negative impact on marital violence and reduce marital violence.