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Marital Expectations Of Young Females
[A CASE STUDY OF OKE-ERO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF KWARA STATE, NIGERIA]
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Sacred vows of marriage according to Ripley, Everett, Worthington, Bromley and Kemper, (2005) are viewed as a permanent sacrifice for some, while others see them as alterable agreements. The word has both religious and secular meanings. Some cohorts (particularly younger ones) view marriage as an “old-fashioned†and outdated tradition, while others believe it to be a critical part of living a fulfilled life and are actively involved in political initiatives to protect the “sanctity of marriage†(Ripley, et.al 2005). Although the meaning assigned to marriage may vary from person-to-person and culture to culture, it is one of the sociocultural activities practiced in all part of the world.
Irrespective of how romantic marriage might be, no marriage is freed from conflict. To worsen it Teachman, Tedrow, and Crowder (2000) claimed half of all first marriages will end in divorce, and one-fifth of those unions will do so within the first five years of marriage (Bramlett & Moshere, 2001). Second marriages according to National Center for Health Statistics, 2002) have even greater divorcing rates with roughly 60% ending their marriage within the first five years. Marital distress and divorce negatively affects adults, children, and the community (Gardiner, Giese, & Parrott, 2004), and the immediate and long-term personal and social consequences of divorce have been well documented in the literature (Amato, 2000; Amato & Cheadle, 2005; Waite & Gallagher, 2000; Wilson, 2005). Hence, more attention is given to factors resulting in divorce and how they can be prevented.
A growing area of research regarding marital divorce has involved identifying risk factors for divorce and incorporating skills for coping with these risk factors into the content of premarital and marital education (Carroll & Doherty, 2003; Halford, Markman, Kline, & Stanley, 2003). At the same time, there has been increased advocacy for marriage preparation as a substantial measure for helping couples identify and potentially reduce risk factors associated with divorce and the important need for couples to participate in such educational services. As Bruhm and Hill (2004) have argued, professionals need to help couples become better prepared for the overwhelming task of creating a happy, healthy, beneficial relationship. Thus, attention needs to be paid to assisting couples in starting their marriage with the skills they need to foster successful relationships.
With the continued attention given to causes of marital distress it was observed that one of the more significant premarital factors contributing to divorce is unrealistic expectations that individuals bring with them into marriage (Sharp & Ganong, 2000). Studies have demonstrated that what partners expect to receive from their relationships affects their assessments of those relationships (McNulty & Karney, 2002). According to Sharp and Ganong, (2000) research on unrealistically high marital expectations suggests that the content of marriage preparation programming should be reality-focused with a
special component on expectations (Risch, Riley, & Lawler, 2003), and how certain marital expectations can both negatively and positively impact couple relationships.
This study is interested in the marital expectations of young female. Several factors have been attributed to shape couples marital expectations some of which include age, gender, parent, ethnicity, religion, peer group and the media among others. Children learn with age and their expectations may change as they grow since they are prone to gain insight into how things work. Gender also influences marital expectations as in most developing countries it was argued that the roles of men in the family are closely linked to the attributes of masculinity (Silvia, 1999) while ladies are expected to spend most of their time at home attending to their children, husband and domestic chores. Parent divorce has been found to influence their children marital expectations for instance Boyer-Pennington (2001) asserted that parental dynamics significantly impact children’s attitudes and beliefs about marriage. Researchers in this area have found that children who witnessed high levels of conflict and dissatisfaction in their parents’ marriage are more likely to become adolescents who report having doubts about their ability to feel satisfied and fully committed to their future marriages (Amato & Booth, 2001).
More recently, the media has been affirmed to create a distorted illustration of real life marriage scenarios. Children often spend more time watching TV than before and most of these children make their movie characters their role model. These children often grow up still clinging to their TV stereotype as a promise of the ideal marriage and family. Not only are these unrealistic beliefs potentially destructive to future relationships, they are also incredibly difficult to alter. Johnson (2011) used a pre-post design to assess the effectiveness of a marital education program. She found that many of her young adult students held unrealistic beliefs about marriage. By presenting information and lectures designed to expose the students to the difficulties that commonly arise in most marriages (sexuality, building intimacy, communication among others), she was hoping to deflate their belief bubble, helping them to adopt a more realistic understanding of what marriage entails. Unfortunately, the individuals who endorsed inflated beliefs about marital bliss on the pre-test responded similarly on the post-test (Johnson, 2011).
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]ABSTRACTThe study examined the marital expectation of young females in Oke Ero Local Government. The study focused on extent to which variables such as age, religion, family type and educational status influence marital expectations of young females in Oke Ero L.G.A. The research adopted survey research design method. The population of the study comprised of all the 18,612 young females in Oke Ero L.G.A. Proportional sampling technique was used to select 2% of 18,612 young female in Oke Ero L.G. ... Continue reading---
APPENDIX A - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]APPENDIX 1UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN, ILORININSTITUTE OF EDUCATIONDEPARTMENT OF COUNSELLOR EDUCATIONQUESTIONNAIRE ON MARITAL EXPECTATION OF YOUNG FEMALES This questionnaire is designed to elicit information on “marital expectations of young female in Oke Ero Local Government Areaâ€. You are requested to respond to the questions to the items honestly such responses are for academic purpose and will be strictly treated as confidential. Thank you for your usual cooperation.SECTION A : De ... Continue reading---
TABLE OF CONTENTS - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]TABLE OF CONTENTSCONTENTS Title page Certification Dedication Acknowledgements Table of Contents Abstract CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTIONBackground to the Study Statement of the Problem Research Questions Research Hypotheses Purpose of the Study Significance of the Study Scope of the Study Operational Definition of Terms CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATUREConcept of Marital Expectation Concept of Young F ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER TWO - [ Total Page(s): 4 ]Physiological and Psychosocial Development of the Adolescent Female Adolescence occurs when the secondary sex characteristics appear and ends when somatic growth is completed and the individual is psychologically and physiologically mature and capable of contributing to society. The pubescent period for girls begins when growth spurts occur. During this stage growth is rapid. Their skeletal system often grows faster than their support muscles, which tends to cause clumsiness and poor poste ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER THREE - [ Total Page(s): 2 ]Reliability of the Instrument Reliability refers to the consistency with which the instrument measures what it purports to measure (Kolawole, 2002). The reliability of this instrument was carried out using test re-test technique. The instrument was administered twice to young female in Offa local government for the pilot study outside the study area with interval of four weeks. The result of the first administration was compared with the result of the second administration using Pearson Pr ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER FOUR - [ Total Page(s): 5 ]Hypothesis Three:There is no significant difference in the marital expectations of young females in Oke-Ero LGA based on family structure.Table 5 shows that, under 418 degree of freedom (df), the calculated t-value of 1.92 is less than the critical t-value of 1.96. Similarly, the corresponding p-value of 0.06 is greater than the significant p-value of 0.05. This indicates that there was no significant difference in respondents’ marital expectations based on family structure; hence, the hy ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER FIVE - [ Total Page(s): 2 ]ConclusionThe findings of the study revealed that marital expectations of young females in Oke-Ero LGA involves having a lifelong relationship, getting married when they are adult, couple’s supporting family financially, being submissive to their spouses, that their marriage should be fulfilling and satisfying even when raising children and to earn income in order to improve their marital life. There was no significant difference in the marital expectations of young females in Oke-Ero LGA ... Continue reading---
REFRENCES - [ Total Page(s): 2 ]REFERENCESAddai, J. & Trovato, L. (1999). Self-directed, therapist directed, and assessment-based interventions for premarital couples. Family Relations, 56, 279-290.Addai, K. (1999); Personality and temperament correlates of marital satisfaction. Journal of Personality, 67, 93-125.Alexander, K. (2008). Epilogue: A strengths-based conceptual framework for understanding families world-wide. Marriage & Family Review, 41, 447.Amato, P. R. (2000). The consequences of divorce for adults and children. ... Continue reading---
