چكيده لاتين :
Introduction
In recent decades, explaining gender differences has become a major issue in social studies, because gender is an important factor in making a variety of opportunities, and life chances and strongly influences gender roles that men and women play in social institutions. One area that has provoked many discussions and research projects, is security and insecurity. Security, defined as being safe from threat or fear of risk, is one of the most important human needs. In contrast, insecurity is an illness that has many personal and social consequences. Insecurity is manifested into two forms, including actual and emotional. Usually, feeling of insecurity is considered more important. Insecurity especially with focusing on fear of crime or victimization has been widely considered since 1960s and has promoted numerous investigations. But a significant segment of these studies have been devoted to the study of gender differences in feelings of insecurity. The most important research question of these studies is the role that gender differences play in feeling of insecurity. On the basis of many theories, including evolutionary, vulnerability, different socialization, sexual harassment, power, and biological differences, a generalized assumption is that women experience more fear and insecurity in comparison with men. But the results of the various studies have been quite different. As a result, it is difficult to reach to a clear conclusion about gender differences in feeling of insecurity. Although the actual insecurity in Iran is not high, but the feeling of insecurity is rather high and it seems that it is a social problem in the country. Therefore, the main goal of the present research is to investigate gender differences in feeling of insecurity in one of Iranʹs cities.
Materials and Methods
The research is a survey study. The population is all of citizens more than 18 years old in Yasouj. Sample size is 482 individuals who were selected by means of random multi-stage sampling method. The measurement tool is a researcher-made questionnaire using 5-point likert scale that consists of 48 items in frame of four dimensions, including social (12 items), economic (12 items), life (12 items) and honor (12 items) dimensions. Validity of the scale was measured using confirmatory factor analysis technique through Lisrel software. Based on the results, the confirmatory factor analysis ultimately led to extract four dimensions without deleting any items and the goodness of fit indices were acceptable. On the basis of the results, standardized factor load for the social dimension is 0.83, for life dimension is 0.81, for economic dimension is 0.74 and for honor dimension is 0.73. The reliability of the research instrument was measured using Cronbach Alpha coefficient.
Discussion of Results and Conclusions
In total, 482 respondents including 292 (60.6%) males and 190 (39.4%) females answered the questionnaires. In the male group, 163 respondents (55.8%) are single and 129 (44.2%) are married. Also, in terms of education, 26 respondents (8.9%) are less than diploma, 88(30.1%) have a diploma and 178(60.9%) have higher education. 234 respondents (80.1%) belong to Lor ethnicity, 11(3.8%) are Tork and 47(16.1%) are Fars, and finally the mean age is 28.7 years old. In the female group, 86 respondents (46.8%) are single and 101(53.2%) are married, 25 respondents (13.2%) are less than diploma, 70(36.8%) have a diploma and 95(50%) have higher education. 150 respondents (78.9%) are Lor, 12(6.3%) are Tork and 28 (14.7%) are Fars, and finally the mean age is 26.4 years old. On the basis of the results, the mean of feeling of insecurity is 161.3 (within the range of 48-240). The mean feeling of insecurity in economic dimension is 38.9, in social dimension is 43.7, in honor dimension is 37.6, and in life dimension is 41.1. Based on the descriptive research findings, it can be said that the mean score of feeling of insecurity is high in Yasouj.
For the purpose of measuring gender differences in feeling of insecurity in total and in the fours dimensions in particular, independent samples t test was used. The results are shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Gender differences in feeling of insecurity through independent samples t test.
Variables Male Female t df Sig
Feeling of Insecurity Totally 158.8 165.3 2.05 480 0.04
Economic dimension 38.2 39.9 1.8 480 0.07
Social dimension 43.3 44.5 1.05 480 0.29
honor dimension 37.8 37.1 0.51 480 0.61
Life dimension 39.4 43.8 4.4 480 0.00
On the basis of the figures shown in Table 1, there is a significant difference between males and females in feeling of insecurity. The table shows that the mean feeling of insecurity in the female group is significantly higher than the male group. Also, there is a significant gender difference between males and females in life dimension. However, there is no significant gender difference between males and females in economic, social and honor dimensions of the feeling of insecurity. On the whole, based on the research results, the following can be said as main conclusions: First, the mean of feeling of insecurity is high in Yasouj. This finding is compatible with other studies that show feeling of insecurity is not satisfactory in Iran. Second, feeling of insecurity among females is higher than in males. This research finding is also compatible with the theoretical frameworks that show feeling of insecurity among females is higher than in males. Third, the significant gender difference in life dimension of feeling of insecurity shows that urban environments in Iran may suffer from cute social problems. Fourth, lack of significant gender difference in social, economic and honor dimensions is remarkable and can be explained by promotion in security via relevant organizations such as the police.
