Iranian Journal of Sociology

Abstract Many studies have shown that the decrease in the compatibility of couples is a serious threat to the survival of families. The main goal of this study is to investigate the effects of compatibility factors on the family cohesion amongst Hamedani ethnic groups. In order to collect the data, I did a survey and selected 147 people from the three different ethnic groups in Hamedan city, namely Persian, Turkic and Lori groups, by the use of the multi-stage simple random sampling. Then to interview the respondents, I modified Filisinger and Spanier questionnaire. It is also important to add that the analysis unit was the individual. The findings show that the compatibility factors do not have the same effect on the family cohesion. Furthermore, the results of stepwise multiple regression revealed that “unity of thought” in Turkic families, “marital satisfaction” within Persian families and “consensus” within Lori families are more important than the other factors. These differences arise from their various histories and subcultures