THE INFLUENCE OF PREMARITAL COUNSELLING ON MARITAL STABILITY AMONG MARRIED COUPLES IN AMAC, FCT
Abstract
The general aim of this study was to investigate the influence of premarital counselling on marital stability among married couples in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The research questions that guided the study were to examine: the extent the content of information provided by the premarital counsellors’ affect married couples; what extent do these reasons affect intending couples who do not participate in premarital counselling and what extent does premarital counselling programme affect overall marital stability among couples. A descriptive research design was employed in this study. A sample of 194 married respondents was used as a primary source of data. The sampling technique employed was a simple random sampling method and a self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from primary sources. A mean score and Analysis of Variance was used to answer the research questions at 0.05 level of significance. The result of the study indicated that the content of information on communication skills significantly influences married couples, that there is a significant impact on couples who did not participate in premarital counselling and couples' readiness for marital challenges. There was a significant impact of premarital counselling programmes on the overall marital stability of couples. The findings of the study have practical implications in premarital counselling which encourages couples to have premarital skills acquisition, enhanced communication and conflict resolution, resource allocation for counselling programmes, defined role of religious institutions in premarital counselling, continuous improvement in counselling and how premarital counselling can improve mental health and well-being of couples.
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