SELF-CONCEPT, ANXIETY AND MARITAL SATISFACTION OF COUPLES IN GOKANA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF RIVERS STATE: IMPLICATION FOR COUNSELLING

SELF-CONCEPT, ANXIETY AND MARITAL SATISFACTION OF COUPLES IN GOKANA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF RIVERS STATE: IMPLICATION FOR COUNSELLING

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Most individuals who are married actively want or anticipate attaining some level of marital satisfaction. In 1992, the Bureau of the Census of the United States revealed that tragically, 52 percent of marriages in the country end in divorce, which indicates that it is not present (Forwers, Montel, & Olson, 1996). As a result of this finding and others like it, there has been an increase in the amount of research done on the factors that influence marital satisfaction. Satisfaction in a marriage is frequently defined by strong, free-flowing communication abilities as well as clearly profound satisfaction in terms of affection, sexuality, shared time, and shared marital responsibilities (Fowers, Montel & Olson, 1996). Marriage is seen as an essential component for the maintenance of the family and the line of succession among the Igbo people of Nigeria, who are predominantly patriarchal in their social structure. In Igbo marriages, the focus is squarely on the offspring of the couple. Therefore, the fertility of the pair should be the very first and most important concern (Obi, 1970). In Igbo culture, the lack of children in a household or the absence of a kid signals a dreadful impending end to the family or generation, and as a result, a feeble, wan, or occasionally an entirely unsatisfying marital satisfaction. Again, research has shown that retirement may help to marital satisfaction by lowering the number of other responsibilities, role conflicts, and time limitations, as well as increasing the number of opportunities for companionship. At this point in an older marriage, the amount of affection that each partner feels for the other is also at its maximum (Carstensen, Gottman, & Levenson, 1995). As a result, marital satisfaction might suffer when the responsibilities and expectations of one's job are not well managed.

In Nigeria, it is abundantly clear that males and females think about marital satisfaction and the social support that is transferred in marriage quite differently. This is especially true with the former concept. A typical Igbo married man feels that his wife is subject to his authority regardless of her views, ideas, sentiments, and even academic background. This is because males in Nigeria usually perceive marriage as an institution of lordship over the opposing sex, who ought to be seen and not heard (Unamba, 2010). He maintains the misguided notion that a woman is his property and, as such, a component of his collection rather than a partner. In addition to this, he is of the opinion that a woman's place is in the home, and for this reason, he gives very little or no weight to the contributions that women make. The woman, on the other hand, is more likely to accept her position as it is portrayed by the other sex because she feels that this is the best way for her to maintain her marital status, even if it means sacrificing her happiness in the process (Osita-Njoku & Uwaoma, 2001).

Self concept is a concept of personality, and its initial description was presented by James (1983) as a ratio that may be determined by dividing one's accomplishments in areas of life that are important to a specific individual by the individual's failures in same areas. The issue with this description is that it has an innate sense of dissatisfaction due to the fact that failure might occur at any given time. The term "self concept" comes from the field of psychology and refers to an individual's overall opinion or appraisal of his or her own value. In the field of psychology, self concept is typically considered to be a permanent personality feature (trait), despite the fact that natural short term alterations (state self concept) do occur. People sometimes mix the emotional high that comes from achieving their goals with genuine human requirements such as the learning to learn, to have relationships with others that are mutually helpful, to feel safe, and so on (Corker & Nuer, 2004; Croker & Park, 2004). The research that Croker conducted in 2004 suggests that individuals are not interested in their own self-concept but rather fundamental human needs, and that the circumstances on which people build their self-concept are more important than the amount of self-concept that they have. Regarding our study, and of course, with a particular focus on the Igbos' level of marital satisfaction, it appears that self-concept plays a significant part.

​​​​​​​STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Recent events within Igbo culture have demonstrated an increase in the number of marriages that have ended in divorce among Igbo people in Nigeria, according to observations of these events. It would appear that the number of divorces and separations is growing. This development could be attributed to a number of different causes. On the other hand, a lack of satisfaction in marital relationships appears to top the mark. Even though it appears that a lot of effort has been put in by society and religious groups to alleviate this family problem, there is still a need to study some psychological factors that are suspected of being fueling breakdowns in marriages among the Igbos of Nigeria. The self-concept of the particular couple is an interesting aspect to investigate in this field of study since it varies from one couple to the next. Higher levels of self concept have been found to be connected with larger levels of marital satisfaction (ala, 2004). Self concept has been discovered to be a factor of a couple's marital satisfaction (Yadalijamaloye, Naseri, Shoshtari , Khaledian, & Ahrami, 2013). However, there is a dearth of study to back up these findings among Igbo couples living in the Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State; as a result, there is a pressing requirement to carry out this investigation. Additionally, there has not been a significant amount of empirical research conducted on the role that gender has on marital satisfaction. Researchers are in agreement that the influences of sex (that is, male and female) and gender roles (that is, maleness and femaleness) have been largely ignored in the explanation of marriage. This is the case despite evidence in the literature that points to differences in marital satisfaction for men and women (Afolabi, 2014; Johnson & Lebow, 2000). For this reason, it is very necessary to do out study on the effect that gender has on the level of marital satisfaction experienced by couples who live in the Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State.

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