Introduction
Marriage is the socially acceptable union between a man and a woman. It means the coming together of two totally different individuals as husband and wife who agree to plan and set up their own family. Osarenren (2002) viewed marriage as usually a union between an adult male and an adult female. Marital conflicts come in different forms like spouse battering, spousal abuse, sexual abuse, marital irresponsibility, incest, rape, subtle struggle for control between the couple and other abusive behaviours.
There is concern about the rising rate of unresolved marital conflicts, which often lead to marital instability, further leading to divorce, desertion, single-parenthood and legal separation. Thus, unresolved marital conflicts oftentimes lead to failed marriages. Marital conflicts are often caused by childlessness, forced marriage, incompatibility, communication gap, interference by in-laws, finances, infidelity, sex of children, lack of appreciation etc. Therefore, when marital conflicts occur regularly, it may have adverse effects on the psycho-social adjustment of adolescents who are the products of such marriages.
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