Consensus on Constraints in Marital Satisfaction Among Married Couples in African Context

Document Type

Article

Department

School of Nursing and Midwifery, East Africa

Abstract

Background

Marriage is considered as the most important social institution and symbol of adulthood in Africa, and its stability is vital for the development of families and society. However, the trend of divorce has increased alarmingly in recent years. The reasons for the constraint leading to divorce remains unknown.

Methods

We explored the constraints towards marital satisfaction by using the Delphi technique with assumptions that couples are the experts on their marriages. Participant's panel included married heterosexual couples divided into two groups: men and women couple's panels. At the initial stages, the group of women's panel included 31 participants and men's panel contained 25 of male's participants. Then the final stage, the two groups were combined to provide their views in the light of the responses from both groups and discuss the possible solutions to such identified constraints.

Findings

Five major themes emerged: satisfaction in sexuality among couples, difficulties in communication, economic and financial conflicts, the role of extended families, and opportunity for behavioural change to achieve marital satisfaction. Interpretation: Our findings support the hypothesis that satisfaction with sexual intercourse, respectful communication, financial stability, and careful handling of relatives influence marital satisfaction.

Funding: None.

Declaration of Interest: We declare no competing interests.

Ethical Approval

Ethical approval was obtained from the University of Dodoma, and permission to conduct this study was obtained from the Municipal Executive Director.

Publication (Name of Journal)

SSRN

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS