THE INFLUENCE OF EDUCATIONAL LEVEL AND DURATION OF MARRIAGE ON MARITAL SATISFACTION AMONG NIGERIAN COUPLES

Abstract

This study examined the influence of educational level and duration of marriage on marital satisfaction among Nigerian couples. Three hundred and eighty seven participants (387) were sampled for the study. They all consist of couples who were selected through simple random sampling procedure. Their age ranged from 18-70years, with a general mean age of 35.3980, the mean age for males is 37.3585, and the mean age for females is 45.4126 and a general standard deviation of .98052. The instrument for the study is a 25-item Index of Marital Satisfaction by Hudson (1982). It adopted 3x3 factorial design and a 2-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test the hypotheses. The first hypothesis which stated that Educational level will significantly influence Marital Satisfaction among Nigerian Couples was rejected at (f=2.636, sig < .073). The second hypothesis which stated that duration of marriage will significantly influence Marital Satisfaction among Couples was accepted at (f=12.666, sig < .000). Based on the findings of this study, the researchers therefore recommended marital experts should counsel spouses on the effect of educational level and duration of marriage on marital satisfaction. It also recommended that marital therapists, parents, friends, and religious leaders should query all the information and procedures that influence marital satisfaction as perceived by the couples, and couples are also advised to attend therapeutic sessions in order to be counseled on the ways to increase their marital satisfaction.