Marital Survival in the Upper East Region of Ghana

Abstract

Marriage is considered one of the key components of family life used to measure social cohesion and stability. Marriage and divorce are central to the study of living arrangements and family composition. Social and economic events as well as changes in cultural attitudes shape marital behavior, which then affect family life and other interactions.

The study used survival analysis to find the average duration of marriages for married couples in the Upper East region of Ghana. It further sought to find out if there was an association between marital survival and covariates such as education, religion, age prior to marriage, tribe, type of marriage and occupation. The research was carried out on a sample of four thousand and ninety four (4094) respondents, consisting of 2267 males and 1827 females using convenience sampling.

The study revealed that the average time to divorce for couples in the Upper East region of Ghana is forty–five (45) years. The best age of marriage for better marital survival is 19 to 25 years. The study also noted that religious and age difference did not influence couple’s decision to divorce.

Keywords: Marriage, Survival Analysis, Censoring, Divorce, Upper East Region