Sexual compatibility and marital stability of married adults in Nigeria

Abstract

Marital stability is when a couple in marriage remain together, instead of separating or divorcing. However, many reasons may be responsible for not accomplishing this and it could be related to sexual incompatibility. Therefore, the study investigated the influence of sexual compatibility on marital stability among married adults in Nigeria. Descriptive survey of a correlational type was adopted. The population consisted of all married adults in Nigeria, estimated at 49,924,317. Multistage sampling procedure was employed to select 1,545 married adults across six the six (6) geo-political zones in Nigeria. The instrument used for data collection was entitled “Sexual Compatibility and Marital Stability Questionnaire”. Two research questions were raised and answered in the study while three null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The data obtained were analyzed using percentages, Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation and Correlation Matrix. The result showed that married adults in Nigeria had high sexual compatibility and high marital stability. It was found that significant relationship existed between sexual compatibility and marital stability of married adults in Nigeria (r = 0.622, p<0.05); and that gender, age, religion and length of years in marriage had significant relationships with sexual compatibility and marital stability of married adults in Nigeria. The study concluded that sexual compatibility of couples with their marital stability have positive relationship. The implication is that married adults should be encouraged to be sexually compatible as it was proven to enhance marital stability. The study, therefore, recommended that counsellors should always consider sexual compatibility when resolving issues related to marital stability of married adults.