Socio-Economic and Psychological Factors Mediating

Abstract

This thesis looks at the socio-economic and psychological factors mediating marital commitment among married couples in the Taifa Circuit of the Methodist Church Ghana, in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Attention was paid to the nature of the socioeconomic and psychological factors that influence marital commitment in the Ghanaian context. Many marriages have suffered difficult situations such as deep regrets by spouses, depression, divorce etc all due to low level of marital commitment. The methodology for this thesis is quantitative in nature. A survey design was used for the study. Here the Rev Ministers of the various branches of Methodist Churches in the Taifa Circuit were interviewed verbally to know their findings concerning the topic under study. This is because they interact with married couples in the church during programmes such as family life, marriage counselling, pre-marital counselling, couples meetings and resolution of marital issues. The research instrument used was questionnaires namely International Personality Item Poll and, Personal Relation and Marital Happiness Scale. Five hypotheses were tested and supported by the use of the chisquare. The study investigated the link between personality, marital happiness and commitment. The link between socio-demographic factors and marital commitment was also assessed. The results revealed that, in the aggregate more married females show higher marital commitment level than their male counterparts. It also revealed that a lower commitment level in marriage was not attributed to respondent’ education. The analysis showed that those with agreeable personality trait have a higher marital commitment than those with extraversion personality trait.