Investigating Factors Affecting Divorce Rate in Iran's Provinces Using Path Analysis Model

The purpose of this study was to investigate the causal effects of demographic, economic and social variables on the crude divorce rate in Iran's provinces. In this study, we used secondary analysis of population and housing census data for 2011 and 2016, labor force survey for 2011-2011, cost and income survey of urban households for 2011-2011 and marriage and divorce statistics of Iran Census Bureau. The use of the path analysis method is discussed. In this study, 23 variables were studied, out of which six variables including urbanization ratio, total fertility rate, sex ratio, average urban household income, proportion of married women with higher education and Gini coefficient one year ago were significant. . The most direct effect is related to the variable income of urban households, then the total fertility rate and the share of married women with higher education in the negative direction. In addition, urbanization, sex ratio, and the share of married women in higher education have an indirect effect on the divorce rate. As such, the variations in the crude divorce rate of the provinces of the country can be explained by the variations of the mentioned variables and can partially explain the provincial differences in divorce.