ABSTRACT
The study examined the influence of
communication on marital stability among couples in Surulere Local Government
Area of Lagos Metropolis. In this study, some relevant and extensive
literatures were review under relevant sub-headings. The descriptive research
survey was used to assess the respondents; opinions using the questionnaire and
the sampling technique. In this study, 100 (one hundred) respondents were
selected and used as samples to represent the population of the study.
A total of three (3) null
hypotheses were formulated and tested in this study. Also, t-test and ANOVA
statistical tools were used to test and analyses the null hypotheses at 0.05
level of significance. At the end of the exercise, the following results were
obtained: There is a significant influence of communication on marital
stability. There is a significant influence of contemporary issues on marital
stability and finally, the third hypothesis revealed that there is no major
significant influence of marital duration on marital stability. In conclusion,
this means that communication among couples significantly influences marital
stability. The study also recommends that couples should open lines of
communication in their marriage over matters, including seemingly trivial ones.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGES
CERTIFICATION i
DEDICATION ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iii
ABSTRACT iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS v
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY 1
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 4
1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY 7
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 7
1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 9
1.6 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES 9
1.7 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY 9
1.8 DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY 10
1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS 10
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE
REVIEW
2.0 INTODUCTION 13
2.1 THE CONCEPT OF MARRIAGE 14
2.1.1 MARITAL STABILITY AND MARITAL CONFLICTS 18
2.1.2 FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR MARITAL 19
CONFLICTS/INSTABILITY
2.1.3 CONTEMPORARY ISSUES ON MARITAL STABILITY 25
2.1.4 MARITAL STABILITY AND MARITAL DISSOLUTION 32
PREVENTION
2.2 THE CONCEPT OF COMMUNICATION 33
2.2. TYPES OF COMMUNICATION 34
2.2.1 EFFECT OF TYPE OF COMMUNICATION ON MARITAL 37
STABILITY
2.2.2 COMMUNICATION
PATTERNS 38
2.2.4 GENDER IMPACT ON COMMUNICATION 40
2.3 COMMUNICATION AND MARITAL STABILITY 48
2.3.1 COMMUNICATION AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION 50
2.4 THEORY ON MARITAL COMMUNICATION 51
2.5 SUMMARY OF THE RELATED LITERATURE 52
2.6 EMPIRICAL RESEARCH 55
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.0 INTRODUCTION 62
3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN 62
3.2 POPULATION OF THE STUDY 63
3.3 SAMPLING AND SAMPLING TECHNIQUE 63
3.4 RESEARCH INSTRUMENT 63
3.5 VALIDATION OF INSTRUMENT 64
3.6 ADMINISTRATION OF INSTRUMENT ON SAMPLES 64
3.7 METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS 64
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
4.0 INTRODUCTION 65
4.1 HYPOTHESES TESTING AND
INTERPRETATION OF 65-68
RESULTS
CHAPTER FIVE:DISCUSSSION,
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.0 INTRODUCTION 69
5.1 DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS 69
5.2
SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS 71
5.3 CONCLUSION 72
5.4
RECOMMENDATION 73
REFERENCES 75
APPENDIX 80
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND
OF THE STUDY
Communication can be said
to be the glue that holds the world, continents, countries, states, societies,
communities, people, the list is endless, together. Take the example of a group
of tourists viewing a picturesque landscape. Although the entire group beholds
the same scene, each person sees it differently. Why? Each individual has a
different vantage point. No two persons are standing at the same location.
Furthermore, not everyone focuses on the same portion of the scene. Each person
finds a different aspect to be particularly intriguing (Watchtower August,
1993).
The same can be said of relationships. Even
when they exist among the very best of friends, no two people share precisely
the same look on matters; siblings, friends, relations and so on. Not even
husbands and wives, the subject of this research study, have the same view on
matters. The dissimilar perspectives can become a source of bitter contention.
In fact, among factors cited to have contributed to divorce include personality
incompatibility, lack of open communication and negotiation between married
couples (Carter & McGoldrick, 1998; Gottman, 1994; Kaslow, 1996; Rutter,
1998; Treadway, 1989; Kabali, 2006). Even the book, the Bible supports that
view, as evidence of this is found at 1Corinthians 7:28, where it states
frankly, “Those who marry will have pain and grief” (The New English Bible).
Marriage
has been defined by Monroe (2003), as a relihious duty and is consequently a
moral safeguard as well as a social necessity. In fact when people make choices
to marry, they want to live happily ever after. They want a loving, happy,
successful marriage. After they have been married for a while, and the novelty
has worn off, they tend to discover that marriage does not maintain itself
(Esere, Yusuf & Omotosho, 2010). Marriage takes work from both spouses to
stay. Marriage is the most difficult maze to ever get lost in (Angel, 2008) if
marriage mates do not work their differences. Marriage can be like heaven on
earth, just as it could be described as a living hell. It all depends on what
one makes of it. A successful marriage is like food. It depends on many key
ingredients to be successful. These ingredients include such attributes as
trust, love, time, friendship, understanding, honesty, loyalty, sincerity and,
above all, effective communication.
Marital
stability can be defined as the endurance of a marriage due to the cooperation
of both husband and wife. In fact, marital stability is viewed as a function of
the comparison between one’s best available marital alternative and one’s
marital outcome (Lenthal, 2009). A marriage without effective communication is
very likely to crumble.
Communication is a life wire
of marriage relationship or any other meaningful relationship (Esere, 2002,
2006). It is the elixir for ailing marital relationships (Olagunju &
Eweniyi, 2002). With so many marriages ending tragically in divorce (Adegoke
& Esere, 1998), it is more important now to work on the communication
between husband and wife. The way couples deal with their inevitable conflicts,
as a result of cohabitation, seems to be a powerful predictor of couples’
adjustment and stability in their marital relationships (Lazarides, Belanger
& Sabourin, 2010).
Marital instability has
been linked with more negativity and less positivity usually as conflicts;
negative reciprocity and difficulty getting out of the negative reciprocity
cycle and more importantly, for the purpose of this study, non-verbal
communication and verbal communication have been observed in unstable
marriages. Unhappy couples display, among others, more criticism, dominance and
withdrawal, and less support and problem-solving behaviours, and the
demand-withdraw pattern of communication has been linked repeatedly to marital
dissatisfaction and satisfaction (Lazarides, Belanger & Sabourin, 2010).
These same set of people usually are unable to function well in their work
places as they carry their marital problems to their work places, constituting
a nuisance to their employers. These and many more problems escalate when there
is no communication, and many problems are resolved when there is effective
communication in a marriage. It is on this premise that it was thought important
by, any successive researchers to investigate the relationship between
communication and marital stability, as well as the influence of communication
on marital stability.
1.2 STATEMENT
OF THE PROBLEM
Millions
of people today have trouble making friends and even family bonds. This is
because we live in a world where family members come home only to sleep and
eat, and then dash out. Seldom do they actually sit around a table to enjoy a
meal together. The sense of family, belonging is missing. There is a gross lack
of communication as a result of no significant conversation. It often gets
worse between husbands and wives.
As
a result of societal, economic and governmental changes, problems in marriage
have surfaced on a grander scale. There has been notable increase in the
divorce, separation of couples, remarriages of divorce parents and children
living in stepfamilies as a divorce (Carter & McGoldrick, 1998; Lofas &
Sova, 1995). The element responsible could be improper communication (Eniba,
1999). Some couples lack the way with which to express themselves through
communication, leading to misunderstandings between each other.
Lack
of communication in marriages is a cause for serious concern on the part of the
couple(s) involved other members of the family, the immediate society and the
world in general. This is because, the home is the nucleus of the society and
marriage is the major avenue whereby the society is populated by the number of
children that are born in such marriages, thus marital instability, due to lack
of communication, produces negative multiplier effect on the society (Esere,
Yusuf & Omotosho, 2010).
A
lot of individuals consider divorce to be the solution to such marital problems
so they opt for divorce. As such, there are a lot of divorced individuals in
society (Kabali, 2006). It comes as no surprise, then, that Rutter (1998)
called the last three decades a transition period into the “the divorce
revolution”. Marital distress, conflict, family uncertainty among couples could
threaten societal values, an embarrassment to themselves, children and their
society at large (Undiyaundeye, 2006).
Marital
instability affects the society, going by the rate of divorce and the direct
impact on the children, who, in most cases, grow to be social misfits and a
nuisance. The tragedy of the matter is that this situation this occurs on a
nationwide scale (Agim, 1997; Obe, 1997; Carew, 1995). Marital instability
contributes to the spread of single-parent families, which in turn leads to
social problems such as poverty, crime,
substance abuse (by both parents and children and declining academic standards)
(Blankenhorn, 1995; Glenn, 1996; Popenpoe, 1996; Amato, 2000). Psychological
effects of marital instability include decline in happiness and more conflict.
In fact, they seem to experience experience sadness, be upset (Harkonen, 2013).
Marital instability and divorce can have important economic consequences,
especially for women. In the case of divorce, economic dependency in the former
marriage tends to lead to larger economic losses during and after divorce,
whereas, the sole provider may even gain more economically (DiPrete and McManus
& DiPrete, 2001; Uunk, 2004; Harkonen, 2013).
The
end result of any case of marital instability is a breakdown of the union or
divorce, home desertion, juvenile delinquency, truancy, school drop outs,
lukewarm attitude to study, indiscipline, etc (Igbo, 1997, Nwobi 1997; Igbo,
2000). Lack of proper communication could lead to problems that if not handled
succinctly and cooperatively by couples may degenerate to crisis levels,
resulting in emotional distance between the couple, low self esteem, poor
nutrition, children’s lack of respect for authority, loss of discipline or
parental control, low standard of living, withholding of sex from spouse,
remarriage, divorce, spouse battering, sexual abuse, incest, rape power tussle
and many more. Clearly, then, the need for the study for the need for effective
communication in marriage cannot be overemphasized.
1.3 PURPOSE
OF THE STUDY
This
study is designed to investigate the influence of communication on marital
stability among couples in the Lagos Metropolis. It also examines the
following:
§ To find out causes of marital instability
§ To find out to what extent communication
affects marital stability
§ To find out to what extent marital duration
affects marital stability
§ To investigate contemporary issues on marital
stability.
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE
OF THE STUDY
This
study will be especially beneficial to the following:
SOCIAL
WORKERS: It will provide insight on
trouble-prone areas of marital conflict in homes of members of the community
and help them identify the right counselling tool with which to address their
problems.
MARRIAGE
COUNSELLOR: The findings of this work
would also be of great assistance to both marriage counsellors in conflict
resolution and management and marital health and stability. It is also hoped
that the findings would be used as tools by marriage and family counsellors in
assisting married spouses in their area of weakness and strength. It is
therefore envisaged that counsellors will find the outcome of this work
essential, for a healthy family is a prelude to a healthy and peaceful nation.
EDUCATIONAL
ADMINISTRATORS: Educational administrators
can also benefit from this study by the insight they will gain on the
attitudes, signs and ways of addressing marital conflicts. Information obtained
can impact on curriculum development and upgrade teaching and learning, especially
since the subjects in this study are literate persons. As such, educational
administrators in post-primary schools and other institutions of higher
learning will be awakened to their responsibility based on the revelations
likely to be made by the study.
YOUTHS
AND MARRIED COUPLES:
Married persons and those intending to marry would find the findings useful, as
they can mirror their marriages and intentions from the findings of this study,
and most definitely reduce marital instability for those who have serious
marital problems.
OTHER
RESEARCHERS: One other potential
beneficiary is the researcher in the discipline who, hopefully, will be
motivated and challenged to develop further interest in the study of marital
and family therapy. This research study may be of help to the researcher who
needs material on marital therapy.
1.5 RESEARCH
QUESTIONS
The following questions will guide this
study:
§ What is the influence of communication on
marital stability?
§ What are the causes of marital instability?
§ To what extent does communication affect
marital stability?
§ To what extent does marital duration increase
marital stability?
§ What contemporary issues affect marital
stability?
1.6 RESEARCH
HYPOTHESES
The following hypotheses will be tested in
this research study:
a)
There
is no significant influence of communication on marital stability
b)
There
is no significant influence of contemporary issues on marital stability
c)
There
is no significant effect of marital duration on marital stability
1.7 LIMITATION
OF THE STUDY
This study attempts to investigate the
influence of communication on marital stability among couples in Lagos
Metropolis. A limitation of this study is that participants are sampled from
only Lagos Metropolis. Therefore the findings cannot be generalised to married
couples all over Nigeria. The researcher chose the Lagos Metropolis because of
familiarity, size, diversity of couples and cost effectiveness.
1.8 DELIMITATION
OF THE STUDY
The
study limits itself to the influence of communication on marital stability
among couples in Lagos Metropolis. Analysis will be on couples in the Lagos
Metropolis.
1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS
EMOTIONAL
DISTANCE: Emotionally distant
behaviour refers to behaviour that is “cool, aloof, unresponsive,
uncommunicative, and unwilling to be vulnerable” that occurs between people
that are supposed to be emotionally intimate, in this case, a married couple.
MARITAL
BREAKDOWN: This refers to the common
process whereby a marriage interpersonal relationship between man and woman
erodes, such that they cannot ordinarily restore their relationship.
¬SPOUSE
BATTERING:
Spouse battering is a kind of domestic violence. In using violence or the
threat of violence, physical or psychological harm is inflicted with the effect
of establishing control by one individual over another. It covers incidents of
physical attack, when it may take the form of physical and sexual violations,
such as slapping, pushing, pinching, spitting, kicking, hitting, punching,
choking, burning, clubbing, stabbing, throwing boiling water or acid and
setting on fire as well as spouse being forced to be involved in sex or
undesirable sexual acts. It also includes psychological abuse, which can
consist of repeated verbal abuse, harassment, confinement and deprivation of
physical, financial, personal resources and social activities, etc.
¬SEXUAL
ABUSE: This is the forcing of
undesired sexual behaviour by one person upon another. It could also be defined
as unwanted sexual activity forced by a person on another person, either by
coercion or threats.
¬PARENTAL
CONTROL: This refers to the
ability of a parent to exercise authoritative or dominating influence over;
direct the affairs of his or her child(ren).
¬INCEST: Incest is sexual intercourse between family members and
close relatives. The term may apply to sexual intercourse between people in a
blood relationship. Incest could also refer to people who are related by
adoption, stepfamilies.
¬POWER
TUSSLE: This refers to a tough
struggle between married partners to show who has the most power or effect over
the other. It could be in form of fierce competition between the couple to show
that one cannot do without the stronger one, to show power.
¬ECONOMIC
DEPENDENCE: This refers to the
ability of someone, a group or an organisation to be self-sufficient, rely only
on oneself economically. In this case, it refers to the ability of one mate to
be self-sufficient, not relying on the other for economic gain or protection.
¬SUBSTANCE
ABUSE: Substance abuse can
simply be defined as a pattern of harmful use of any substance for
mood-altering purposes. Medline's medical encyclopaedia defines drug abuse as
"the use of illicit drugs or the abuse of prescription or over-the-counter
drugs for purposes other than those for which they are indicated or in a manner
or in quantities other than directed (by a physician).
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