Determinants of Marriage Stability among Married Couples in North-Central Nigeria Implication for Counselling

Abstract

The study investigated determinants of marriage stability among married couples in North Central Nigeria. In order to carry out this study, four hypotheses were formulated. An instrument known as “Determinants of Marriage Stability Questionnair (DOMSQ)” was constructed by the researcher and used to collect information from the field. The instrument had content and facial validity and its reliability coefficient is 0.87. The investigator used eight research assistants to administer nine hundred and ninety copies of the questionnaire on the respondents in Kogi and Benue States. Nine hundred and eighty three copies were retrieved from the respondents indicating 99.3 percent return rate. The researcher collated the information got from the field work and the Z statistics was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings showed that, there was no significant difference between male and female married couples in their identification of childlessness as determinant of marriage stability, there was no significant difference between married couples in the urban and rural areas in their identification of sexual satisfaction as determinant of marriage stability, there was no significant difference between old and young married couples in their identification of cultural background as determinant of marriage stability, there was no significant difference between married couples from Kogi and Benue States in their identification of communication as determinant of marriage stability. One of the recommendations is that couples who are faced with the problem of childlessness should seek medical assistance and also be positive about such outcome.