Sociocultural Correlates of Marital Harmony among Seventh-day Adventists in Akwa Ibom State

Abstract

Married members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, like other married couples, are susceptible to prevailing trends in marital conflicts and disharmony. A new wave of socio-cultural exuberance is sweeping through the globe resulting in changing attitudes towards traditional gender roles, religious commitment, and attitudes towards marital fidelity. The current study aimed at determining the relationship between selected socio-cultural variables, specifically, gender roles, religiosity, and marital fidelity on marital harmony among married members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Akwa Ibom State Conference. Data was collected from a purposively selected sample of 621 married couples in the Akwa Ibom State Conference of the church (less 10, due to attrition). Research instrument used was the Marital Variables and Marital Harmony Questionnaire developed by the researchers. The questionnaire was validated and had a reliability index of .92 Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient. To answer the three research questions and test the null hypotheses for the study, Pearson Product Moment Correlational analyses was conducted on the field data. The results showed that gender role orientation, religiosity and fidelity in marriage all had significant correlations with marital harmony. Based on this, it was recommended, inter alia, that couples be assisted through counselling, public education and other attitudinal reorientation programmes to eschew prevailing negative socio-cultural trends and adhere to the divine mandate of their marriage in faithfulness.

Keywords: Marital Harmony; Religiosity; Gender Role Orientation; Marital Fidelity; Marriage Counselling; Seventh-day Adventist

DOI: 10.7176/JCSD/71-03

Publication date:July 31^st 2023