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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