RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MARITAL SATISFACTION AND PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH AMONG MARRIED COUPLE IN SOUTH-SOUTH REGION OF NIGERIA.

Abstract

Background: Marital satisfaction is the largest contributor to overall happiness for married individuals and is strongly associated with physical and psychological wellbeing. Marital satisfaction is so critical to health and happiness that it generally declines over time when problems weigh down on a couple. Couples are expected to assist each other in various aspect of life and if these are not met, it can lead to marital
dissatisfaction and invariably divorce or separation. Family stability is crucial and important to every society and nation as a whole. A healthy family atmosphere markedly influences the psychological health of each member of the family.

This study is aimed at eliciting a relationship between marital satisfaction and psychological health among patients attending Family Medicine Out-patient Clinic in Delta State University Teaching Hospital, Oghara.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study that adopted a General Health Questionnaire(GHQ 28) as well as Index of Marital Satisfaction (IMS 25) to assess the relationship between psychological health and marital satisfaction respectively among patients recruited using a systematic sampling technique from Family Medicine Out-patient Clinic in Delta State University Teaching Hospital. The information required for the study was collected with the use of researcher-administered questionnaires. The questionnaire was translated into Pidgin and Urhobo languages and reinterpreted back by an external source in order to validate it. Collected data were entered into a spreadsheet and analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 22. Results were presented in proportions, mean ± standard deviation and displayed in tables and charts. The relationship between marital satisfaction and psychological health was expressed using Pearson's chisquare. Ap-value was considered significant if less than 0.05.

Result: The association between duration of marriage and psychological stability was highly significant; p = 0.001. Over three-fifths 115 (62.5%) of the patients had marital satisfaction whereas 69 (37.5%) of them were not satisfied in their marriage. The majority of the study participants were psychologically stable in their marriage, while 29.4% were unstable.

Conclusion: The level of marital satisfaction was moderately high. The relationship between marital satisfaction and psychological health was statistically significant. This shows that marital satisfaction has a positive impact on the psychological health of the couple and vice versa.