FACTORS INFLUENCING MARITAL STABILITY AMONG STAFF OF UNIVERSITIES IN EDO STATE NIGERIA

Abstract

The study investigated factors influencing marital stability among staff of universities, in Edo State, Nigeria. Three (3) research questions were brought up in the investigation. Two (2) were hypothesized and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The sample for the study comprised One Thousand Nine hundred and Two (1,092) University staff selected through the multi-stage sampling technique. In any case, only Nine Hundred and Forty-Nine (949) of the questionnaires dispersed were recovered which indicated 86.9% return rate. The analyses were therefore based on 949 respondents. The instrument utilized for information gathering was a questionnaire titled ‘Factors Influencing Marital Stability Questionnaire' (FIMSQ). The instrument had a reliability coefficient of 0.88. Information gathered was examined utilizing descriptive statistics as frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviation. Hypotheses were tested using Pearson Product Moment Correlation. The findings revealed that 5.3% of respondents had low marital stability, 69.8% had moderate marital stability and 25.0% had high marital stability. The findings revealed that respondents had good marital relationships with their spouses (x =2.86). Results of hypotheses revealed a significant relationship between family background and marital stability among staff of Universities in Edo State (p < 0.05) and .the result equally shows that a significant relationship exists between economic security and marital stability among staff of Universities in Edo State (p < 0.05). In the light of the findings of the investigation, it was suggested that Government, private organizations, counselors and curriculum planners should give specific consideration to family life education, since ignorance or illiteracy is no doubt one of the impediments to marital stability to orient the general public on the effect of unhealthy/poor communication