---

Objectives: The main purpose of the research was to examine the role of men in decision-making concerning family size, fertility control, motivation to have children and contraceptive use. Specifically, this research examines the role of men in family planning and fertility control in the city of Yazd, the capital city of Yazd province in Iran, which has highest level of male participation on family planning and contraceptive use in the country. Methods: Data used in this study comes from an individual survey interview conducted in Yazd, a city in the central part of Iran. Target population for the study was all currently married men aged 15-49. A total sample size of 296 men was interviewed and used in the present analysis. Participants were questioned about their fertility and family planning attitude and behaviours as well as a range of other socio-demographic variables such as family income, level of their individual modernism, degree of religiousness, use of mass media and so on. Measure of individual modernization, as well as measure of the degree of religiousness also developed and its reliability and validity discussed. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify factors associated with role of men in family planning. Findings: Data shows that in our research site men have a high level of participation in family planning and contraceptive use, with 69 percent of men reported that use a male based method to control fertility. Condom with 37.6 percent, withdrawal with 27.9 percent and vasectomy with 3.8 percent are among the most popular method used. The analysis reveals a positive correlation between measure of individual modernization and the use of male methods. The analysis also indicates that male involvement in family planning increase with a rise in male education and decrease with rising age. As analysis shows measure of individual modernization and age explain 11 and 8 percent of dependent variable variance respectively. Altogether, 28.5 percent of variance for male involvement in family planning can be explained using linear transformation variance by such independent variables as individual modernism, religiousness, income, education, age, and influence of mass media. Analysis reveals that individual modernism, religiousness, income and education have significant impact on men's participation on family planning and fertility control. While age and influence of mass media has significant negative influence on male's family planning and fertility control. Furthermore, the results indicated that individual modernism and age enjoyed the most impact on family planning decision and fertility control. Results: The results indicated that role of men in family planning is incredibly high and even more significant than women’s. The results of the study is consistent with diffusion and economic theories of fertility change, shows that individual modernism, religiousness, income and education have significant impact on family planning behavior of men.

---

 

  Intordaction : Religion and its concepts have been a main as well as unique source in producing social capital. The development of social capital, as the raw material for a civil society, depends on certain variables including religion and religious culture. In spite of numerous researches on social capital and its factors, there are few systematic studies undertaken to examine interrelationships between degree of religiousness and social capital at the individual level. Therefore, number of questions about the role of religion in social capital formation has remained unanswered. The purpose of present study is to examine interrelationships between the degree of religiousness and social capital.

  Method: Data for the study comes from a structured questionnaire administered by a face-to-face survey interview. The study has been a cross-sectional survey of a random sample of adults aged 15 year- old and over in the city of Najafabad, Isfahan. The sample was selected through a multi-stage cluster sampling technique among 244 respondents.

  Findings: The findings show that there is no significant difference between men and women, single and married, employed and unemployed regarding the degree of social capital. Also, there is a significant and direct relationship between religiousness and social capital.

  Couclusion: The results of the study have been on the same wavelength as some theorists such as Durkheim, Putnam, Fukuyama and Coleman, suggested a direct association between the degree of religiousness and social capital.

---

  Introduction: Fertility transition has been a central theme of demographic research in the second half of twenty century. In spite of extensive research on the levels, trends, and determinants of fertility in different regions of the world, few studies undertake to examine the onset and the pace of fertility decline it's variation and change among developing countries. This paper examines the interrelationships between the pace of change in the socio-economic development indicators and the rapidity of fertility transition in developing world.

  Method: Time-series data on the socio-economic and demographic indicators taking out from the World Bank reports, has been used for the present analysis. Cross-country data for 90 developing countries analyzed here using Excel and SPSS software programs. Statistical analysis including bivariate and multivariate techniques employed to investigate relationships.

  Findings: A negative and relatively weak relationships found between the onset of fertility transition and the pace of fertility decline. In other word, the later date a country enter to the fertility transition, the slower will be it's fertility decline. There are also a high correlation between the levels of economic development (not the pace of development) at the time of entry to the fertility transition stage and pace of annual fertility decline.

  Discussion: Empirical analysis of data from the developing countries experience does not in support of prevailing hypothesized relations between fertility and development which argues that the association between fertility and development has been changing over time and the later time a country enter to the fertility transition, it experienced the more rapid fertility decline. In contrast, a negative and relatively weak relation appears between the onset of fertility transition and the pace of fertility decline after controlling for the effects of various socio-economic variables in multivariate models. This implies that those countries which were undergone their fertility transition later (and the most of them are sub-Saharan African countries), have experience slower fertility decline.

Another important result of the study provide empirical supports for the hypothesis that those countries which enter the fertility transition at the very low level of socio-economic development experienced a relatively slower pace of fertility transition. In contrast, the most rapid fertility decline has been occurred in those countries which enter their transition stage at the relatively high level of socio-economic development. When the pace of fertility decline is examined in connection with the pace of changes in the development indicators, a significant relationships could be find only for those socio-economic variables that reflect human capital. Our results show that there is a positive and significant association between the pace of fertility decline and the rate at which such indicators as child mortality, life expectancy at birth, and the proportion of illiterate population shift over time. On the contrary, there are not significant relationships between the rate of increase in urban population and the economic growth with the pace of fertility decline. This can be an important result especially for effective policymaking concerning the population growth in developing countries

---

Introduction: The number of female heads of households has increased in recent years due to widespread social and demographic changes in Iranian society. At the same time, most of these women are part of the vulnerable strata of society, so their empowerment is important.
Method: The method used in this research is a systematic review. The materials used for the present study includes published articles that have dealt with the subject of "empowerment of female heads of households" in Persian scientific sites. Thirty-two articles were selected. Finally, after carefully reviewing and comparing the worksheets specific to each article, the obtained data were collected, described, and analyzed, and based on them, the purpose of the study was addressed.
Findings: In the articles related to the empowerment of female heads of households, different variables and factors have been considered. In the present article, in addition to contextual factors (age, education, number of dependents, duration of care, marital status), the main and important factors studied in three groups (socio-cultural, economic, personal-psychological) are classified and summarized. Important strategies and suggestions of the studied articles are also presented and divided into economic, social, educational, and consulting dimensions.
Discussion: Systematic review of the previous articles shows that the major need for research on the empowerment of female heads of households is to pay more attention to different dimensions of the empowerment process. A conceptual model can be proposed in which the process of empowerment of female heads of households is studied in a cyclical, multidimensional, and interdisciplinary manner.