MARITAL SATISFACTION AND QUALITY OF LIFE AMONG WOMEN IN INTER-ETHNIC MARRIAGE IN ENUGU, SOUTHEAST NIGERIA.

Abstract

Interethnic marriage is becoming quite popular in Nigeria and globally. This popularity however has not been matched with sufficient empirical attention. This research is carried out to enrich our understanding of marital satisfaction and how it impacts on the quality of life of women in inter-ethnic marriage (WIM). The study adopted a cross-sectional descriptive survey design. Ninety-five (95) women in inter-ethnic marriage were recruited using purposive and snowball sampling techniques. A researcher-developed socio-demographic questionnaire, the ENRICH marital satisfaction scale and WHOQOL-BREF were the instruments for data collection. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics of frequency, percentages, mean and standard deviation. Independent sample t-test was used for inferential statistics at P < 0.05. Findings from the study showed that nearly half (49.5%) of the women were maritally dissatisfied while 50.5% reported being martially satisfied. In terms of quality of life outcomes, over 80% of participants reported good well-being in physical, psychological, social, and environment domains. Women who were satisfied with their marriage had significantly higher quality of life than those dissatisfied with regards to their physical health (p = .015) and environment domains (p = .002). There was no significant difference for the psychological and social interaction domains. These findings underscore the importance of culturally sensitive interventions and support mechanisms tailored to address areas of dissatisfaction as it holds the potential to enhance the overall marital satisfaction and quality of life for WIM.