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INFLUENCE OF
SOCIO-CULTURAL VARIABLES ON MARITAL STABILITY AMONG COUPLES
CHAPTER ONE
1.1
Introduction
Culture is generally, described and accepted as people’s way of life, which
among other things includes their material lives. The inspiration of every
matured man or woman is to have a stable and happy marital life, be compatible
in love, values, academic, economic and of course be socially alright. This in
line with the postulation of Onyema (1994), that marriage is a social
institution for the union of body and soul. However, stability in marriage may
at times be influenced by certain socio-cultural variables. The influence of
the variables may be negative resulting to insecurity and unhappiness in
marriage or may be positive resulting to a stable and happy union. These
variables range from cultural diversity (in case of interethnic marriage), to
educational, social, economic and even religious background. Even age
difference is inclusive in these variables. For instance, a lady once confessed
that she can never marry an illiterate no matter how rich no matter how rich he
may be, because, one day, he might ignorantly use his certificate as a toilet
tissue. The implication of this open confession is incompatibility and social
inequality in education which are factors that may influence marital stability.
The current instability in some marriages in our society today tend to be the
resultant influence of social, economic and cultural changes in people’s
pattern of living. These changes, according to Amaonye, (1996), have occurred
and has continued to occur so rapidly that they are not yet absorbed into our
ways of living. Furthermore, compatibility in social lives of couples a strong
factor for marital stability and survival. When the social lives of couples are
at variance, it may likely portend great threat to marital stability, because
it takes time to come to terms with why some social outings and involvement are
necessary. However, the realization of the salient influence of these socio
cultural variables on marriage may likely be positive moment towards marriage
stability in our society today. 1.2
Theories of Marriage Osarenren (2005), postulated that marriage is one
of the roles expected by every society for its members during adulthood. The
implication of this postulation is that marriage is not only regarded by the
society as a normal pattern of social behaviour, it is also a legal necessity.
Marriage, therefore, constitutes an essential means of human propagation and an
avenue for children’s upbringing for a better and disciplined society.
According to Almond (2000), it is believed that in marriage, the assurance for
security, love, and companionship is provided. In upholding this view, Adman
(1998) theorized that nature did not construct human being to be alone. He
further emphasized that those who have never known the deep intimacy and
intense companionship of happy mutual love have missed the best thing life has
to give. Marriage is an aspect of social life affecting both immediate members
(couples) and other members of the community. A man and a woman are attracted
to each other in marriage because each hopes that the relationship will satisfy
a variety of their needs which include love, values, financial support, social
protection and long-life companionship. However, inevitable difficulties and
challenges do accompany marriage. Indeed, many a gap seem to exist between an
individual’s relational ideal and eventual relational reality. As much of the
scholarship suggests, problematic communication patterns can contribute to
relational demise, (Hottman, 2004). Much of the popular literature suggests men
and women are different and that these differences manifest themselves through
the sexes’ different communication and relationship needs. Some of the
scholarly research however, suggest that men and women are not very different
in their communication or relationship needs (Gray, 1997), although some
differences do exist, so do some similarities. When considering couple
communication in close marital relationship, as variety of things are relevant
and of interest. First, what gender differences (if any) are recognizable in
couple communication patterns? Second, how do couple-type identification and
gender-role adherence play a part in how individuals communicate with partners
in marriage? Finally, how do aspects of gender-role adherence and coupe-type
identification relate to (dis) satisfactory couples communication? It should be
noted that most of the relevant research has been done in western cultures,
with most of it conducted in the United States. As Kathleen (1998) theorizes,
love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage began a song popular in
the 1950s. According to Kathleen, love and freedom of choice are important in
western society. individuals choose their own marriage partners generally by
falling in love. There are however, other ways of contracting marriage when
those considerations are not regarded as important by a particular group or
society which may emphasize economic or political requirements instead. In no
society is marriage simply a contract between two individuals. It is a part of
the arrangement that a society makes to perpetuate and organize itself. It is
about protecting, organising and replacing its individual members and
socio-political alliances between families and between society. Depending on
the society, and the emphasis it places on personal freedom, the individuals
themselves will be more or less involved in decisions about whom and when they
will marry. In western society, Allen (2000) claims that a couple in love
before marrying, the individuals themselves play a major role in choosing their
partner. Although we believe that individuals have a great deal of choice as to
whom they will marry, the choice is in practice often limited by some variables
line, age, religion, social class, and educational or occupational status and
most especially, cultural background of individuals who want to go into
marriage union. In many other societies, marriage is regarded as far too
important to be left to the individuals concerned and made on the basis of
romantic considerations. If marriage is part of an alliance between families or
groups, the elders of the family play a major role in arranging the marriage.
This method also protects young and inexperienced people from the
responsibility of such a big decision. Basically, the laws and customs of
wedding and marriages reflect the predominant values of the society which
establishes them. different societies and different individuals regard some
elements as more important than others. There is no absolute or correct form of
marriage (Admson, 1997). 1.2.1
Theories on Marital Stability Without marital stability, the ideals of
material life cannot be realized. Anyanwu (2000) theory on marital stability
laid emphasis on the conflict between the couples quests for city jobs and
their traditional roles and the subsequent insecurity of this to marriage.
According to the theory, adults leave the security of their traditional homes
and seek employment opportunities in cities and towns. And beside getting the
hoped for economic satisfaction, many couples are often confronted with many
problems that may effect their marriage stability. Hence there is the
probability of being exposed to foreign patterns of living which are totally
different and in conflict with there own culture. It is in line with this
theory that Amanoye (1996) theorised that the current instability in some
marriages tends to be the result of educational, social, economic changes which
have occurred and continued to occur so rapidly that they are not yet fully
absorbed into our way of living. In essence the continued migration of people
from the rural to urban centres, the entry of women to industry, workforce and
business, coupled with the changing economic roles of husbands tend to
constitute marriage instability. At times if the foundation is poor, it may
also constitute a problem in later marital life. For instance, these days
youngsters and youths are often far away from their parents and relatives who
can put them through on how to adjust to future marital life. Achuzie (1999)
theorised that more than before, the youths cry out for the services of
guidance and counsellors to assist them in their problems of living especially,
in the struggle to maintain a stable marriage. Thus, the emphasis on the
significance of advance preparation and equipment to foster future marital
stability. 1.2.2 Theories of
Socio-Cultural Variables on Marital Stability Are there any factors that
predict marital success? A great deal of research has been devoted to this
question. This research has been plagued by one obvious problem. How do you
measure “marital success”? Some researchers have simply compared divorced and
intact couples in regard to premarital characteristics. Other researchers have
used elaborate questionnaires to measure couples marital satisfaction. However,
these instruments appear to measure complacency and lack of conflict more than
satisfaction. Although the measures of marital stability or success are rather
crude, some predictors of marital success have been found. These relations are
all statistically weak, but they are intriguing nonetheless (Mann, 1998).
According to Almon (2001), the marital adjustment of parents is correlated with
the marital satisfaction of their children. People whose parents were unhappily
married are more likely than others to have an unsatisfactory marriage. For a
number of reasons, marital instability appears to run in the families. As
Poconko et al (2003) put it, there are many important variables that can make
or marr marriages. According to them, apart from family background, the
variable to be considered to help marriage of a couple is age. The ages of
couples or bride and bridegroom are also related to the likelihood of success.
Couples who marry young have higher divorce rates (London and Wilson, 1994).
Surprisingly, couples who marry late also have a higher propensity to divorce.
Because they are selected from a smaller pool of potential mates, older newly
weds are more likely to differ in age, religion, social status, and education.
Such differences make marriage more challenging, regardless of age. Other
variables that can affect marriage are length of courtship and socio-economic
class. Longer periods of courtship are associated with greater probability of
marital success (Grover and Russell, 2000). It is probably not the duration of
courtship itself that is critical. Rather, this correlation may occur because
people who are cautious about marriage have attitudes and values that promote
marital stability. The frequency of divorce is higher in the working and lower
class than in the upper and middle class. There are probably many reasons, but
a key one appears to be the greater financial stress in lower socio-economic
strata. According to Schumm (1993), another variable that can affect marital
success is personality. Personality he theorizes is generally, partners traits
are not predictive of marital stability. However, the presence of serious
psychological and emotional disorder in one or both partners is associated with
marital problems among couples. Other variables that can affect marital success
include: tolerance, marital altitudes, mutual trust, children, couple
communication, similarity between couples etc.
1.3 Statement of the Problem
Marital
instability is one of the painful experiences of life. The wish of every
married man and woman is to spend their life time together and joyfully till
death part them. However, this is not usually the case all the time because at
a particular period in their lives, frictions do arise which leads to a near or
total collapse of the marriage. And this is one of the inevitable challenges
that accompany marriages. Socio-cultural factors such as religious, age,
socio-economic status, social class, educational background, personality,
traditional values etc influence the marital stability of marriage among
couples are very important variables in marital stability but the relevance of
these factors are not recognized by many couples, no wonder there are breakages
in many homes as a result of no love, lack of understanding, lack of
compatibility, disparity in age, in education, religion and social classes.
Many for instance, have failed to realize that when couples are of diverse
culture (inter-ethnic marriage), there is need to respect each other’s culture
since this translates to respecting the person you married and subsequent
marital stability. These days marriages fail due to lack of tolerance, lack of
mutual trust, lack of patience, non-child bearing, no effective communication,
lack of good marital altitudes, similarities between couples, lack of maturity
and poor socio-economic status. Finally, when couples are not from same
socio-cultural background, and do not have the value system and norms, they tend
to vary in understanding of themselves and lack of understanding no doubt,
creates conflict, and instability in marital union. 1.4 Purpose of the Study The major purpose
of this study is to determine the influence of socio-cultural variables on marital
stability among couples in Lagos State. Other objectives of this study include
to: 2. Examine whether there
is difference between religion and marital stability among couples. 3. Find out whether there is
difference between ethnicity and marital success among couples. 4. To determine whether there is
influence of communication on marital stability. 5. To investigate whether socio-economic
status has an impact on couples’ marital success. 1.5 Research Questions The following
research questions will assist the conduct of this study: 1. Will there be a significant
influence of socio-cultural variables on marital stability among couples? 2. Will there be a significant
difference between ethnicity and marital stability? 3. Will religious backgrounds of
couples influence their marital stability? 4. Is there any significant influence
of socio-economic states of couples on their marital stability? 5. Will lack of communications affect
the marital stability of couples? 1.6
Research Hypotheses The following research hypotheses were formulated
for testing in this study: 1.
There is no significant influence of socio-cultural variable on couples’
marital stability. 2. There is
no significant influence of ethnicity on couples’ marital stability. 3. There is no significant influence
of religion on couples’ marital stability. 4. There is no significant influence
of communication on couples’ marital stability. 1.7 Significance of the Study Marriage
should be contracted through a careful planning and accidental marriage (that
is marriages that are not planned but are forced on couples to save the family
or families from embarrassment) should be avoided like a plague. Before a man
weds his wife, both of them should reach the age of maturity. They should
mature socially, economically, temperamentally, financially etc. For a happy
marriage, they should maintain a feeling of love and affection. The wife must
experience a feeling of being wanted and a sense of belonging, care and
security. The husband too needs love and affection to ensure him of a stable
marriage. Marriage partners should avoid cognitive error that is, they should
not expect the other person to see it. Therefore, if the husband wants the wife
to behave in a certain way, he should inform her about his wishes, the same is
true of the wife to her husband. Sexual compatibility tends to foster marital
stability, marital oneness to large extent depends on sex. Infact, sex is a
form of communication and probably, the most legitimate in which two persons
(husband and wife) express oneness of mind and feeling. Therefore, partners in
marriage should be socially compatible. Child-bearing is a factor that foster
marriage may not be her fault. The main may be very low to effect pregnancy. To
avoid unnecessary doubts, both husband and wife should go for a medical checkup
to rectify or correct the problem of childessness. For marriage to work out
well, couples should not entertain the interference of in-laws or the third
party syndrome. They should avoid washing their dirty lining in the public.
They should be of one religious sect, joint account, mind the same thing, maintain
peace in the home and allow love and affection to rule their world. 1.8 Delimitation The delimitation of this
study is the influence of socio-cultural variables on marital stability among
couples in the Lagos metropolis. 1.9
Limitation The research will cover mainland local government area of
Lagos State since the research is making use of only mainland local government
area, the generalizability of the findings is limited to the local government
area. However, this study cannot present all the marital problems exhibited by
all the couples in Lagos State considering the scope the generalizability of
the findings can only be applicable to the other couples in similar conditions.
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