PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS AS PREDICTORS OF MARITAL STABILITY AMONG MARRIED WOMEN IN PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES

ABSTRACT

This study examined the psychosocial factors as predictors of marital stability among married women in private universities in Ogun State. 120) women were randomly selected using stratified random sampling technique. Family Assessment Device, a subscale of McMaster Family Functioning Scales and Psychosocial Factors of Marital Stability Questionnaire (PSFMSQ) were used to measure marital stability, communication, age at marriage, in-laws’ interference and marital suspicion. Five null hypotheses were raised and tested using descriptive and inferential statistics (Frequency and percentages, means, standard deviations and multiple regression). Results showed that the combination of communication, age at marriage, in-laws’ interference and marital suspicion accounted for the variation of 78.49% in marital stability. The findings revealed that there was a combined prediction of marital stability at f (3, 197) =3.389, at 0.05 significant level. There were significant contribution of communication (R=.449, R2=.2016, F (1,199)=30.49; p<.05.), age in marriage (R=.393, R2=.1546, F (1,199) =37.90; p<.05.), in-laws’ interference (R=.4108, R2=.1688 F (1,199) =21.05; p<.05.) and marital suspicions (R=.509, R2=.2599, F (1,199) =17.48; p<.05.) in the prediction of marital stability. The main implications of these findings are that suspicion in marriage and communication affect marital stability negatively. It was therefore recommended that government should use the mass media to create massive awareness on the need to check in-laws’ interference, discourage marital suspicion, recruit professional counsellors, psychologists and social workers to attend to various needs of couples and intending couples.