The Role of Media in Rural Life Style Changes (The Case of Zanjan Township)

Authors

• Mohammad Badsar
• Soheila Fathi
• Rohallah Rezaeei
• Hossein Shabanali Famii

Abstract

The rural society of Iran as an in transition society has been involved in a lot of changes and transformation as seeing the change values of youth, family transformations and the generational gap in rural communities. Intensity and variation range in different aspects of lifestyle in rural communities to the extent that entering new media lead to move the community from the rural lifestyle to the urban lifestyle. Considering the importance of the issue, the current descriptive study has been conducted to investigate the role of media in developments of rural life style in Zanjan Township by a survey method. The population of this study consisted of all rural residents in Zanjan Township that 250 respondents were selected through utilizing multi-stage cluster sampling. Questionnaire was used to collect the data. The face and content validity of questionnaires was confirmed by a panel of expert (Including; faculty members of Extension, Communication and Rural Development Department in University of Zanjan). The construct validity and reliability of questionnaire were evaluated through confirmatory factor analyses (measurement model). Composite reliability coefficients ranging from 0.906 to 0.929 indicated good internal consistency of the measurement tool. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 20 and AMOS 20softwares. Descriptive findings regarding life style components showed that 44.4 percent of respondents assessed their social health at the high level. Also, results showed that 70 percent of respondents had high level spiritual health.  According to the results, the average watching TV among the respondents were about 4 hours and 20 minutes a day. Inferential findings showed a significant negative relationship between media environment and lifestyle. Furthermore, the results confirmed the moderating effects of age groups variable on the relationship between the study variables. So that media environment had a significant negative impact on the lifestyle for respondents with age lower than the average age group, while this effect for respondents in age higher than the average age group is non-significant.
 

Keywords

• Lifestyle
• Spiritual health
• social health
• Media
• Bandura's social cognitive theory

20.1001.1.22516735.1395.6.24.12.6

---

References

1. Azkia, M. and Rodbaraki Hossini, S. (2010): Generational change in rural lifestyle, Social Welfare Quarterly, No. 27 (10), pp: 241-264. (in Persian)
2. Brunsø, K., Scholderer, J., and Grunert, K.G, (2004): Closing the gap between values and behavior—a means–end theory of lifestyle. Journal of business research, 57(6), pp: 665-670.‏
3. Byabangard, E. and Javadi, F. (2004): Mental health of teenagers and youth in Tehran City, Social Welfare Quarterly, No. 14 (4), pp: 127-144. (in Persian)

1. Fogel, J and Nehmad, E, (2009): Internet social network communities: Risk taking, trust, and privacy concerns. Computers in human behavior, 25(1), pp:153-160.‏
2. Gomez, R., and Fisher, J.W, (2003): Domains of spiritual well-being and development and validation of the Spiritual Well-Being Questionnaire. Personality and individual differences, 35(8), pp:1975-1991.‏
3. Hair, J.F., Black, W.C., Babin, B.J., Anderson, R. E., and Tatham, R.L, (2010): Multivariate data  analysis (Seven ed)". United State of Amreica: Pearson prentice hall.
4. Hanusch, F, (2012): Broadening the focus: The case for lifestyle journalism as a field of scholarly inquiry. Journalism practice, 6(1), pp: 2-11.
5. Ho, R, (2006): Handbook of univariate and multivariate data analysis and interpretation with SPSS: CRC Press.
6. Kline, R. B. (2011): Principles and practice of structural equation modeling: The Guilford Press.
7. LaRose, R., Gregg, J. L., Strover, S., Straubhaar, J., and Carpenter, S, (2007): Closing the rural broadband gap: Promoting adoption of the Internet in rural America. Telecommunications Policy, 31(6), pp:359-373.‏
8. Milbourne, P. and Kitchen, L. (2014): Rural mobilities: Connecting movement and fixity in rural places. Journal of Rural Studies. 34(0), pp: 326-336.
9. Pavis, S., Cunningham-Burley, S., and Amos, A. (1998): Health related behavioural change in context: young people in transition. Social Science and Medicine. 47(10), pp:1407-1418.
10. Soininen، M., and Merisuo-Storm، T, (2010): The life style of the youth، their every day life and     relationships in Finland. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. 2(2), pp:1665-1669.
11. Titan، E., Ghita، S., and Covrig، M, (2012): Migration Phenomenon: A Globalization Effect or a Consequence of Poverty? Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. 62(0), pp: 367-371.
12. Voas, D., and Crockett, A, (2005): Religion in Britain: Neither believing nor belonging. Sociology, 39(1), pp: 11-28.‏

6.  Habibpor Getabi, K. and Safari Shali, R. (2011): A Review of Rural Modernity Experience in Iran (Case study: villages of Markazi Province), Social Welfare Quarterly, No. 14, pp: 7-38. (in Persian)

8. Hajipor, B. and Asadi, Z. (2013): Investigate the factors affecting Obedience of customer in high contact service according to Bandura's social cognitive theory, Journal of New Marketing Research, No. 4 (3), pp: 109-126. (in Persian)

10. Hejazi, U. and Hasheminejad, A. (2011): The role of information and communication technology (ICT) in academic achievement of post graduate students Tehran University College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Iranian Agricultural Extension and Education Journal, No. 2, pp: 35-48. (in Persian)

12. Khaje Nori, B., Hashemi, S. and Rohani, A. (2010): Lifestyle and National Identity case study: high school students in the city of Shiraz, National Studies Quarterly, No, 4 (11), pp: 127-152. (in Persian)

14.  Lali, M., Abedi, A. and Kajbaf, M. B. (2012): Construction and validation of the lifestyle questionnaire (LSQ), Psychological Research, Vol.115, No. 1, pp: 64-80. (in Persian)

16. Majdi, A. A., Sadrnabavi, R., Behravan, H. and Hoshmand, M. (2010): Lifestyle of youth living in Mashhad city and its relationship with economic and cultural capital of parents, Social Science Magazine of Firdausi Mashhad University, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp: 131-161. (in Persian)
17. Memarbashi, P. and Zamani Myandashti, N. (2013): An anaylsis of information-seeking behavior through the internet among agricultural undergraduate student at Razi University of Kermanshah, Iranian Agricultural Extension and Education Journal, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp: 33-49. (in Persian)

19. Moidfar, S. and Sabouri Khosrowshahi, H.(2011):Conflict in lifestyle between children and parents, Social Development & Welfare Planing, No, 7, pp: 67-97. (in Persian)

21. Rahmat Abadi, E. and Agha Bakhshi, H. (2006): Lifestyle and youth social identity, Social Welfare Quarterly, No. 20 (5), pp: 235-256. (in Persian)
22. Sayedi, F. Biraghi, m. R. (2012): A comparative study of social relations, religious lifestyle and modern lifestyles with an emphasis on of Iranian society, Quarterly of Religious Research, No. 25, pp: 35-64. (in Persian)
23. Shaditalab, J. Imani Jajarmi, H. and Bayat, M. (2011): Characteristics of Transitional Villages in Tehran Metropolitan Area: A Sociological Analysis, Iranian Journal of Social Problems, No. 2, Issue 1, pp: 23-40.  (in Persian)
24.  Shoaibi, F. (2013): Imitation and social learning, Electronic Publishing, 2013. (in Persian)

28. Zanjan Province Annual Statistics (2012): Statistical Center of Iran. (in Persian).