Spirituality And Psychosocial Factors Associated With Marital Distress Among Women In Rural And Urban Settings In Ghana

Abstract

This research was conducted to investigate the extent to which spirituality and psychosocial factors are associated with marital distress. A sample of 171 married women who have been married for at least one year and stayed in their premises for at least six months was drawn from rural and urban settings (Akyem Sekyere and Dansoman) in the Atiwa East district in the Eastern Region of Ghana and Ablekuma South Municipality in the Greater Accra region of Ghana respectively. Purposive sampling technique was used, participants were administered with the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales, the Marital Happiness Scale, Daily Spiritual Experience Scale and communication Danger Signs scale. Results showed that spirituality was negatively related to marital distress. Communication also proved to be a core predictor of marital distress as compared to other factors such as depression, anxiety and stress. Stress and anxiety were also found not to predict marital distress. It was observed that education predicted the highest percentage of variance (47%) in marital distress as compared to number of children and age. Urban married women also proved to be more distressed as compared to rural married women. Findings are discussed in terms of theories and other research findings.