The Intergenerational Comparison of Marriage and Childbearing Ideals with Emphasis on Background Characteristics in Sanandaj District

The aim of this study is to investigate and compare marriage and childbearing ideals between two generations i.e. mothers and their offspring in Sanandaj district. The research data has been obtained from Sanandaj's Fertility Ideals and Behaviors Survey in 2014. A sample of 420 people was drawn from the available data, containing 210 mothers and 210 single offsprings (107 boys and 103 girls). The results of this study, although indicates the relative similarity of respondents attitudes toward some of the marriage arrangements, but it confirms the tangible differences between the generations and, in some cases, inner-generation in many of the marriage and childbearing attitudes and ideals. On one hand, descendants in comparison with their mothers tend to have less consanguine marriages, they consider less number of children with more time spacing as ideal and assign less value to having children. On the other hand, the attitude of the daughters in comparison with the male counterparts in these areas seems more different and modern. Part of the differences observed in those ideals can be attributed to differences of individuals’ background characteristics including education, age, place of residence and employment status which is consistent with the theoretical discussion of structural change and findings from previous studies.