EXPLORING THE PERSONALITY TRAIT FOR MARITAL SATISFACTION: A CONSCIENTIOUS-MARITAL-SATISFACTION MODEL

Abstract

This study examined “Exploring the Personality Trait for Marital Satisfaction: A Conscientious-Marital-Satisfaction Model". A total number of two hundred and one (201) Married persons participated in the study from Awka Metropolis, Anambra State, Nigeria. The participants were selected using convenience sampling method, but the selection of the location was done using simple random sampling technique. The participants’ ages ranged from 21- 60 years with the mean age of 30.1 and 1.7 as the standard deviation. The participants comprised 82 males (41%) and 119 females (59%). Standardized measures of Marital Satisfaction and Personality were used for data collection; The Index of Marital Satisfaction which consists of twenty-five items, developed by Hudson (1982) and validated in Nigeria for use by Abamara (2019) and The Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) which consists of ten items, developed by Gosling et al (2003) and validated in Nigeria for use by Umeaku etal (2021), it is a brief measure with five domains (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness and Emotional Stability). One hypothesis was adopted for the study. The hypothesis which stated that Personality trait (Conscientiousness) will significantly and positively correlate with marital satisfaction was accepted at r= .146*, significant at; .p<.039. Based on the findings of the study, the researcher concluded that personality trait (Conscientiousness) should be recognized as a key personality factor/trait in marital satisfaction among city dwellers in order to promote awareness for a healthy and successful marriage among such Married persons as well as achieve psychological wellbeing among them, thereby establishing ‘A Conscientious-Marital-Satisfaction Model’, with a recommendation that the other four domains of the personality traits (openness to experience, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism/emotional stability) should further be investigated to ascertain their statistical significance among city dwellers in terms of marital satisfaction.