Background: There is substantial theoretical and empirical evidence indicating the presence of gender discrimination in the field of medicine. By entering the medical profession, women have transcended traditional gender roles and actively engaged in professional activism, yet they continue to face structural barriers. This study aims to identify the structural aspects of gender discrimination experienced by female students in medical education, focusing on the causal, contextual, and mediating factors and their consequences. Methods: This qualitative study, conducted within a critical paradigm, employed grounded theory to describe and analyze the findings. The primary motivation for choosing it is to access knowledge grounded in real and up-to-date data. By fostering a deeper understanding, it serves as a reliable guide for action. The research was conducted at a University within Iran’s medical sciences. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with fifteen, sixth- and seventh-year general medicine students. Results: The central category "Struggle between agency and discrimination" was identified. Key causal conditions include "gender stereotypes" and "structural discriminations". The consequences are: Suppression of capabilities & self-efficacy, psychological & mental stress, low professional advancement, sexual and psychological harm, academic exhaustion, tendency to migrate. Conclusion: This research offers a deeper understanding of the structural aspects of gender discrimination in medical education. By addressing specific issues within the field, it provides practical suggestions for improving conditions and reforming the medical education system to eliminate gender discrimination, drawing on sociological knowledge and a critical approach.

The objective of this study was to identify social factors that affect the mental health of women and men, with gender being one of the distinguishing factors of human health. To achieve this, the study utilized the opinions of Anandal (2013), the theory of Moss (2002), and the theory of Arber and Thomas (2001). The research followed a quantitative approach and was conducted using a survey method. A sample of 600 married men and women aged 20-60 living in Kerman city was selected using quota sampling. The results of the study indicated that men had significantly higher average scores for mental health (23.5) than women (20.6). The average score for "inequality in benefiting from resources and opportunities" was higher for women (73.6) than for men (54.8). In terms of health vulnerability, men had a score of 43 and women had a score of 46, suggesting that women experience weaker mental health, less benefit from resources and opportunities, and a higher degree of health vulnerability compared to men. Statistical analysis showed that "inequality in benefiting from resources and opportunities" with a coefficient of -0.16 and "vulnerability in health" with a coefficient of -0.24 had significant and negative effects on women's mental health. Gender inequalities have a negative impact on women's mental health, both directly and through increased vulnerability to poor health. The findings underscore the need to pay attention to the social conditions in which women live when analyzing their mental health and highlight differences in the social factors that affect the mental health of men and women. ‌ Keywords Gender Difference, Mental Health, Inequality in the Use of Resources and Opportunities, Vulnerability in Health. ‌ ‌Introduction Mental health is an essential component of human health with significant impact on overall well-being. It is shaped by personal characteristics as well as social context, thus making the gender factor, with its cultural, economic, and social implications, a crucial determinant of individuals' mental health. Gender is defined by the distinct identity, roles, expectations, and rights assigned to women and men, and along with their biological differences, creates overarching differences in their individual and social lives. Hence, this research aims to measure gender-based distinctions in mental health in both men and women, and subsequently identify the factors that influence it. This study is necessary in Iran due to the drastic changes in the position of women over the past few decades. Although the entire society has been undergoing constant transformation amidst the traditional and modern boundaries, women have been subjected to more contradictions and disorders in various social life aspects. Factors such as access to higher education, specialized jobs, media consumption, and greater geographical mobility, have gradually reduced the strictness of traditional teachings towards women, hence transforming their position in society, at least partially. Consequently, an important research question arises whether the resulting changes have affected mental health, reducing the gap between men and women's health. Furthermore, to determine if there is a difference in mental health between genders, the study seeks to identify the social factors responsible for these differences. Methodology The research method utilized in this study was a survey, which involved collecting data using both standardized and researcher-made questionnaires. The statistical population of interest was all married individuals between the age of 20 and 60 who reside in Kerman. The sample size was determined using Cochran's formula, and 600 participants were chosen using a combination of the quota sampling and disproportionate sampling methods from two groups of married men and women. The measurement tool showed adequate formal validity, and the study's variables had an optimal level of internal consistency, as indicated by the Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The data were analyzed using SPSS-23 software, and both multiple regression analysis and path analysis were employed to examine the theoretical research model. Findings The study found that men had a higher average mental health score compared to women. Additionally, gender differences were observed in the level of "inequality in the use of resources and opportunities", with women experiencing higher levels of inequality than men, as well as being more vulnerable than men. Multiple regression analysis was used to examine the effect of independent variables on the dependent variable, mental health, separately for men and women, revealing that 20% of changes in women's mental health could be explained by the variables of "inequality in the use of resources and opportunities", "vulnerability in health", and income. Notably, the effect of "inequality in the use of resources and opportunities" and "vulnerability in health" on women's mental health was reversed, with their increase leading to a decrease in mental health, while income had a positive and direct effect, leading to an increase in mental health. Meanwhile, 9% of changes in men's mental health were attributed to income, which had a direct positive impact on men's mental health. In contrast, the variables "inequality in the use of resources and opportunities" and "vulnerability in health" had no effect on men's mental health. Path analysis was employed to determine the structure of the model and the direct and indirect effects of the variables, revealing that "inequality in the use of resources and opportunities" led to a decrease in women's mental health, both directly and indirectly through its effect on "vulnerability in health". Meanwhile, "vulnerability in health" had a negative direct effect on women's mental health. Income affected women's mental health directly and indirectly, with higher income leading to a decrease in "vulnerability in health" and "inequality in the use of resources and opportunities", improving women's mental health. Result The results of the current research, in line with the findings of previous studies, show that women experience greater inequality in "utilizing resources and opportunities" compared to men, and the lack of utilization of resources and opportunities increases exposure to hardship and stress. It limits the access to the resources that they need for prevention and care against the disease, as a result, the health of women faces a decrease. On the other hand, since men experience less gender inequality, it is natural that this factor does not show a relationship with their mental health. Also, gender can affect how people are vulnerable to certain health conditions. The health status of women and men is the consequence of how societies give agreed privileges to men in power relations, which can make women more vulnerable than men in the field of health. The results also indicate "vulnerability in health", more women than men, and its negative impact on women's mental health. Consistent with the opinion of mental health sociologists who believe that mental disorders are caused by socio-cultural systems, in this research it was also found that mental health at the individual level is affected by socio-cultural structures including the gender structure in society. This can lead to gender differences in mental health. on the other hand, since health is a multi-dimensional and multi-faceted phenomenon, and for its promotion, along with the effort to modify individual level variables (such as empowering women), it is necessary to modify the social origin of the disease, especially the way of distributing valuable resources and defining gender roles. Today, the predominance of the biological-psychiatry approach and reliance on drug therapy and individual consultations, despite the valuable role they play in reducing the suffering of patients, they are unable to find and solve their problems. 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Introduction: Diabetes is one of the chronic diseases which causes other chronic diseases. The incidence of it is increasing in different societies, including Iran. This study aimed to investigate Gender differences in incidence of type 2 diabetes and related psychosocial factors. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in 2019 among people with the age group of 20 to 60. All the 600 participants were married and lived in Kerman. Using multi-stage sampling, 300 men and 300 women were selected. Data were collected through a questionnaire which included 3 sections as follows: Social demographic variables, healthy lifestyle variabl and perceived stress variable. Statistical analysis was done through descriptive statistics, Lambda test, Independent sample T -test and Binary Logistic regression. The SPSS 23 was used to perform the data analysis. The significance level of the study was considered to be p=0.05. Results: The mean (SD) score of physical activity for women was significantly lower than men: (7.6 (2.3) vs. 8.2 (2.7) (P=0.006) ). In the same vein, the mean (SD) score of healthy diet among women was significantly higher than men: (18.6 (3) vs. 18 (2.4),( P<0.001) ). The rate of avoidance of tobacco and alcohol consumption among women was significantly higher than men: (19.4 (1.3) vs. 17.9 (2.6),( P<0.001) ). Results of multiple logistic regression showed that in the group of women, the chance of developing diabetes was significantly related to perceived stress level (OR=1.21), level of sports activities OR=0.48) (and education. Education level and health diet also had a significant effect on men's odds of developing diabetes (OR=0.63, 1.35, respectively). Conclusion: Among the indicators of healthy lifestyle, doing exercise in women and having a healthy diet in men were effective in predicting the risk of diabetes. In addition, the amount of perceived social stress was one of the most important psychological factors in the development of diabetes just in women. Therefore, it is crucial to recognize the factors affecting diabetes in both men and women separately and This can be an appropriate analytical instrument for sociologists and health researchers to recognize and focus on this problem as well as for health policy makers to reduce and control harmful factors.

Background and Objective: A healthy lifestyle consisting of physical activity, stress management, healthy diet, and avoiding smoking and alcohol, has a significant impact on mental health. However, these components and their impact may vary among men and women. The aim of this study was to determine the ability of healthy lifestyle components in predicting women’s and men’s mental health. Materials and Methods: The present study is descriptive-analytical. The statistical population included all 20 to 60-year-olds living in Kerman in 1398, 600 of whom, including 300 women and 300 men, were selected based on the sampling method of quotas from four regions of Kerman. The research data were collected through a global health scale of 12 questions and a healthy lifestyle questionnaire and analyzed with SPSS-23 statistical software and t-test and linear and multiple regression. Results: The mean (SD) age was 39 (9.6) among women and 40.5 (10.1) among men. The mean (SD) of women’s healthy lifestyle score was significantly higher than men: 55.7 (6.6) vs. 17.6 (7.9), P<0.001. The mean (SD) score of women’s stress management was 12.6 (3.7) significantly higher than men’s 11.7 (4.2), P<0.001. The rate of avoidance of tobacco and alcohol consumption among women was significantly higher than men: 19.4 (1.3) vs. 11.11 (4.2), P<0.001. The mean (SD) score of physical activity among women was significantly lower than men: 7.6 (3.0) vs. 8.2 (2.7), P<0.001. The mean (SD) score of healthy diet among women was significantly higher than men: 16.1 (2.8) vs. 15.3 (2.2), P<0.001. Predictive components for health Women’s Psychiatry Stress Management was 0.42 units, exercise and physical activity were 0.18 units, smoking cessation and alcohol consumption were 0.12 units, and the predictive components for men’s mental health were stress management 0.30 units and a healthy diet 0.16 were units. Conclusion: The study found that stress management, smoking cessation, and a healthy diet were better among women. However, they had lower physical activity than men. Women’s mental health was positively associated with increased stress management, more exercise, less smoking, alcohol, and employment. Men’s mental health positively associated with increasing stress management and diet improvement. Among the components of a healthy lifestyle, stress management was the most effective predictor of mental health in both sexes. Ethical code: IR.PNU.REC.1398.077. DOI: http://doi.org/10.22037/ch.v7i3.28929.

The main aim of the present research is to examine the health policy of the Iran. By studying resources and history of Iran one might come to this question: why there isn't any comprehensive, systematic and process-oriented policy in the health. Considering that health policies cover a wide range of people, the consequence of the lack of comprehensiveness health policy is a widespread social problem. The theoretical framework is generally in the field of social welfare and particularly is in the framework of comprehensive health policy. With the rise of social welfare, social harm (destructive forms) is reduced and increases individual and social health. The research method is quantitative and qualitative content analysis. The statistical population of the study is the section of health of Five-Year Development Plan Acts. Information processing tools are text scanning and encoding. Quantitative findings are based on the description, analysis and evaluation of "health dimensions" and "government targeting in achieving health levels." The analysis of qualitative content in relation to the two themes of "fundamental principle comprehensive policy" and "health agenda" indicates: The lack of a framework for welfare ideology, the lack of systematic and cultural look, the existence of inconsistency in affirmation and targeting health within each law and the entire development law. Health programs have undergone major changes as each government has different political orientations. Therefore, the persistence of instability and the continuation of heterogeneous health policies in both countries is a short-term and temporary policy-making process. It eliminates the possibility of any long-term planning for health.

Introduction: In recent years, new methods of relationship between both sexes have emerged which have no family framework.Today, some girls and boys are living together although they have not got married legally and formally; based on a mutual agreement for an unspecified time.Some scholars express that Iran's society has faced with increasing waves of changes in values and norms by expanding new communicational facilities.The process of value changes including the increase in the divorce rate, increasing the percentage of female-headed households, prevalence pair selecting pattern by himself/herself, and differences between generations have created remarkable changes in marriage desirability.A subculture is a life style by a group within a larger culture which accepts a lot of life styles in that larger culture, but it is different from the larger culture in many aspects and faces against the public culture.This study tries to answer these questions: first, what are the backgrounds and consequences of expanding cohabitation subculture in the metropolis of Tehran?second, how can the cohabitation subculture provide a field for decreasing the marriage importance and family formation?The researchers will work on coding the payments.

Introduction One of the issues in the field of sociology that has attracted the attention of many social scientists is the important role of social determinants in human health. In spite of the significant progress of medical sciences in identification of pathogeneses and treatment methods, sociologists are interested in the study of health and illness and identification of the effective factors. The results of sociological studies indicate that health is multi-faceted, and may be affected by cultural, economic and social factors in addition to biological factors. Most of medical sociologists believe that social factors play an important role in human health; biological and medical explanations, which ignore the significant role of social and cultural factors on health and illness patterns, are insufficient. This has led sociologists to study the social and cultural determinants of health. This research aims to investigate the effect of some social and cultural determinants such as religiosity, healthy lifestyle and level of social support on health among university students. The present study examines the direct and indirect effect of religiosity on health. As a variable, health has been investigated in three physical, mental and social dimensions. The indirect effect of religiosity on health has been studied through social support and healthy lifestyle. In order to study the relationship between religiosity and health, theories of Emile Durkheim, Kingsley Davis, Milton Yinger, Thomas O'Dea’s functionalism theory, and Max Weber and Peter Berger’s meaning theories have been utilized. Each of these approaches has implications for the relationship between religiosity and health. According to the functionalists, religion unifies society and preserves social integration. Also, religion provides a background for integration and categorizes people according to special ideology in peer social groups. This categorization could be a factor for promotion of intergroup integration against outer groups that follow different opinions and ideas. On the other hand, in relation to the research question, Berger and Weber's approach also seems important. According to these theorists religion, in addition to other functions, provides a meaningful and purposeful life in a world that is constantly meaningless. According to Weber, regardless of level of rationality in the society, individuals have a psychological need to find the world meaningful and purposeful. As a result of his view, religion is not functionless in the modern era. So from Weber’s point of view, it can be inferred that even in new forms of society religiosity can have a positive effect on health. Therefore, religious people that are more likely to control their carnal desires show less risky behavior and as a result, they may have a healthier life. In general, implication of functionalists and meaning theorists can be shown in a causal model as a theoretical model of this study as follow: Figure 1- Conceptual Model of the Study Based on the proposed model and the review of literature, the following hypotheses can be reasonably inferred from: 1. Religiosity has a positive effect on healthy lifestyle. 2. Religiosity has a positive effect on social support. 3. Social support has a positive effect on healthy lifestyle. 4. Healthy lifestyle has a positive effect on health. 5. Social support has a positive effect on health. 6. Religiosity has a positive effect on health. Materials and Methods In this research, a survey method was used to investigate the relationship between variables. It was performed based on a sample of 350 students of the University of Tabriz. Participants filled out a questionnaire containing mental, physical and social health measures (i.e., HS-36). Also, it contained measures for healthy lifestyles and social support as intervening variables and for religiosity as an independent variable. The measures enjoyed a high level of reliability and validity. Findings Findings reveal that religiosity, healthy lifestyle, and social support have significant positive correlations with physical, mental, and social health and consequently with the general measure of health. In addition, the results of multivariate regression analysis reveal that these independent variables explain 36.8% of variance of general measure of health. However, the explained variance of mental health and social health (respectively, 31.2% and 32.6%) are almost twice as that of the physical health. Furthermore, the results of path analysis indicate that religiosity significantly and positively has both direct and indirect effects on general and mental health. Religiosity has also a significant indirect effect through social support and healthy lifestyle on physical and social health but it has no direct effect on these two dimensions of health. In general, the findings support the implications of functionalist theories on the positive effect of religion on healthy lifestyle and health, particularly mental and social health. Discussion of Results and Conclusion In summary it can be said that the results of different statistical tests to examine the relationship between religiosity and health indicate that religiosity has a significant impact on promotion of health and its dimensions. According to the mentioned theoretical discussions concerning the relationship between religiosity and health, these results were expected. Indeed, the findings confirm these theories. According to these theories, the positive effect of religiosity on health and its dimensions can be explained through integration, ascetic and meaning functions of religion. A) Integration Function of Religion According to the functionalists, religion unifies society, preserves social integration and motivates social unity. According to this approach, religious thoughts based on communicating and interacting with others extensively, make religious people incline to develop social relationships and social support. As a result, this leads to receiving lots of support from relatives and friends. On the other hand the extension of religion in society has caused religious people to join religious networks in addition to family, relatives, friends and occupational networks and hence have larger social networks than less religious people. Therefore, the expansion of social communications and joining diverse social networks provides a background for receiving social support for religious people. Accordingly, religion plays a positive role in promotion of social health by expanding religious people’s supportive networks. B) Meaning Function of Religion Although Weber and Berger, like functionalists, emphasize on social functions of religion but they consider meaning function of religion. Based on this approach, by offering spiritual responses to human ultimate questions, making life purposeful, and coping with problems, religion acts as an obstacle to human meaningless crisis. As a result, the religious people that are less suffering from meaninglessness and aimlessness can better cope with difficulties and have mental peace and comfort. Therefore, the findings of the present study confirms the mentioned theories concerning to the positive effect of religiosity on mental health. C) Ascetic Function of Religion Another implication of Weber and Berger’s theory regarding the relationship between religion and health is the positive effect of religiosity on physical health. These theorists’ approaches imply that religion is an important factor to control the instinctive desires. Participating in religious ceremonies causes religious people to control their carnal desires. So the findings of the present study based on a positive and significant relationship between religion and health confirm that ascetic content of religion about controlling carnal desires and avoiding illegal affairs causes religious people to control their instinctive desires and prevents them from high-risk behaviors and consequently is more physically healthy.