1.1 Introduction
Marital conflict can be defined as the state of tension or stress between marital partners as the couple try to carry out their marital roles. Marital conflict can also be described as a struggle, clash, strife, disagreement or quarrel between husband and wife, and sometimes with other members of the household, over opposing needs, ideas, beliefs, values or goals Cummings (Olugbenga, 2018). Conflict in marriage is inevitable. Whenever two people get together eventually some of the belief system and personal habits of one will annoy the other, regardless of the degree of love. In healthy relationships couples tend to accept and resolve conflict (Pathan, 2015).
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitation of the study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
Marriage is a vital or an energetic aspect of life time as well as a relationship which is planned to last for a lifetime. As a very important human institution, marriage not only provides the initial structure to establish family relations, but also serves as a path to raise and train future generations (Bano et al., 2013 as cited in Olugbenga, 2018). However, research has shown that in recent times, people are turning away from marriages because it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain a happy and stable union (Amato, Johnson, Booth and Rogers, 2003). This is so because as Omeje (2014) opined, quite a number of marriages today are into serious conflict and this has modeled a severe threat to the hypothetically marital satisfaction and happiness that would have been enjoyed by couples. Moreover, marital conflicts have been seen as the major causes of marital instability which often leads to divorce, desertion, single-parenthood and generally failed marriages (Olson & Olson, 2000).
Marital conflict comes 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 and also caused by childlessness, forced marriage, incompatibility, communication gap, interference by in-laws, finances, infidelity, sex of children, lack of appreciation etc (Osarenren, 2013). Furthermore, researchers in Ethiopian like Tiruwork (2015), and Meaza and Wobedel (2014) identified several major sources of marital conflict, i.e., violent behaviors of husbands, lack of cooperation in the family, inability to spend enough time together, issues related to children and other families, lack of effective communication, and financial problems. Also, a quantitative study of couples highlighted personal traits, communication skills, commitment, and family background as the most significant factors related to conflicts in marriages.
In traditional agricultural societies like us where marriage is early and universal, where there is high level of fertility and mortality, low education, less availability of social services, low economic development and poverty. Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to scrutinize the Marital Conflict and Church Roles towards Maintaining Stability.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Investigation reveals the problems of the research work which entails that conflict in marriage can lead to poorer health conditions and the risk of certain diseases, such as heart disease, as well as cancer and chronic pains. Furthermore, conflicts in marriages can affect family life in different ways, e.g., it may decrease the performance of the parents and the compatibility of the children and increase conflicts among all family members (parents and children as well as between siblings).
Socio-cultural factors such as religions, age, socio-economic status, social class, educational background, personality, traditional values etc influence the marital stability of marriage among couples. And the factors are very important variables in marital stability which are seldom 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.
Regarding its consequences, marital conflict is not only the issue of the two spouses; its effect goes beyond the individuals who dissolve the marital union. Children and other relatives of the couples are the immediate victims who share the potential consequences and exposed to various psychosocial problems (Collins, 1988). Moreover, conflicts in marriages produce various personal, familial, physical, and psychological consequences. They can result in depression, anxiety, and eating disorders and others.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to scrutinize the Marital Conflict and Church Roles to Maintaining Stability. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To determine the causes of conflict and conflict resolution among married individuals in Imo State
- To investigate the impact of educational attainment level on marital stability among married persons in Imo State.
- To determine the relationship between educational attainment level and Marital Conflict of married persons in Imo State.
- To examine the church roles towards maintaining stability as well as eradicating Marital Conflict in Imo State.
- To determine how each conflict resolution style influenced marital stability among married individuals in Imo State
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- Is there any significant relationship between educational attainment level and Marital Conflict of married persons in Imo State?
- Will marriage Location affect marital stability of Imo married persons?
- What are the impacts of educational attainment level on marital stability among married persons in Imo State?
- What is the relationship between educational attainment and marital stability of Imo married persons?
- What are the church roles towards maintaining stability as well as eradicating Marital Conflict in Imo State?
- What are the causes of conflict and conflict resolution among married individuals in Imo State?
1.6 Research Hypothesis
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
Hypothesis One
- H0: There is no significant relationship between educational attainment level and Marital Conflict of married persons in Imo State
- H1: There is significant relationship between educational attainment level and Marital Conflict of married persons in Imo State
Hypothesis Two
- H0: There is no significant impact of educational attainment level on marital stability among married couples in Imo State
- H1: There is significant impact of educational attainment level on marital stability among married couples in Imo State
1.7 Significance of Study
Marriage should be contracted through a careful planning not 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.
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 Scope of Study
The scope of this research is focused on the Marital Conflict and Church Roles to Maintaining Stability in Imo State, Nigeria.
1.9 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection.
1.10 Definition of Terms
For easy comprehension of this study, all conceptual terms were defined thus:
- Culture: This is defined as a term emerged whole of idea and things produced by men in their historical experience by 1910 America Anthropologists were using “Culture” to refer to distractive of traits characterizing particular tribal societies.
- Culture Heritage: This is a process of bringing together people of different ideas and cultural background to have common interest and perceive a common goal.
- Marriage: The legal joining together of two person’s of opposite sex as husband and wife.
- Stability: This refers to something that is fixed, not likely to move or change its position. In simple terms, the quality of being stable.
- Cohabitation: This is the act of living together of a man and a woman without formal marriage as husband and wife.
