A Sociological Study of Family Sustainability in Urban Isfahan: A Cultural-Structural Approach

Abstract

This study aims to conceptualize and model family sustainability in Isfahan by examining the cultural structures shaping interactive, institutional, and meaning-based stability within families. The research employed a mixed-methods design with an exploratory sequential strategy. In the qualitative phase, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 14 experts in family studies and analyzed using the systematic grounded theory approach, including open, axial, and selective coding. In the quantitative phase, a survey was conducted with 400 married residents of Isfahan using a researcher-made questionnaire derived from qualitative findings. Measurement instruments were validated using construct validity indices (AVE, factor loadings, Cronbach’s alpha, composite reliability). Data analysis was carried out using variance-based structural equation modeling in Smart PLS. Quantitative results revealed that cultural factors explained 62% of the variance in family sustainability, while cultural barriers explained 24%. Cultural factors had a significant positive effect, whereas cultural obstacles had an inverse effect. One-sample t-tests indicated that the overall mean of family sustainability (3.71) was significantly higher than the theoretical midpoint (t=26.45, p<0.001). Sub-dimensions such as long-term joint life orientation, family identity, intimate cohesion, structural-semantic stability, and commitment-based understanding were also significantly above the scale midpoint. Family sustainability in Isfahan emerges as a multilayered cultural–interactive phenomenon, reproduced through shared meanings, communicative competencies, coherence-building norms, and culturally grounded strategies. Cultural shifts and media dominance can either weaken or reinforce this sustainability depending on the interplay of intervening conditions.