Impact of Educational Attainment on Marital Stability among Married Persons in Imo State , Nigeria

It has been revealed that recently there appear to be a kind of downward trend in marriage patronage in our society. The trend is prevalent in both western and non-western culture. Also, in the recent decade there seems to be a cut down in the interest of young people willing to go into marriage. This is as a result of the dwindling credibility that people attach to marriage and the retreat of men and women from getting married or patronizing marriage in our society today which seems to be a concomitant effect of the numerous crises bedeviling the marriage institution chief among which is marital instability. Unfortunately, not much is being done to redress this issue and since a stable marriage gives birth to a stable society and a stable nation, the primary aim of this study therefore was to determine the impact of educational attainment on marital stability among married persons in Imo State. The study adopted a casual comparative design. Eight hundred and three (803) married persons were selected through simple random sampling for the study. The study made use of questionnaire for the collection of data. Two research questions guided the study. Spearman’s Correlation Coefficient and independent T-test analysis were used to analyze the data. The findings revealed that there was a positive relationship between married persons’ low and high levels of educational attainment and marital stability while there was no significant relationship between those with medium level of educational attainment and their marital stability. Based on the findings, it was recommended that those involved and engaged in the marriage molding institution should organize seminars, workshops and conferences to educate intending couples with regard to choosing partners based on the couples’ educational attainment.


Introduction
Marriage is the oldest social institution ordained by God as a social contract between two individuals to become husband and wife.Marriage as ordained by God gives legitimacy to sexual relationship and reproduction for legitimate children (Amina, 2008).Marriage is the state of being united with a person of the opposite sex as husband and wife for the purpose of companionship, procreation and maintaining a family (Ojukwu, 2013).The above definitions require compatibility, commitment and understanding among married persons.The institution of marriage represents all the behavior, norms, roles, expectations and values that are associated with legal union of a man and woman (Ojukwu, 2013).The definition of marriage varies according to different cultures, but it's principally an institution in which interpersonal relationships usually intimate and sexual interaction are acknowledged (Bell, 2001).When defined broadly, marriage is considered a cultural and universal phenomenon and is usually formalized through a wedding ceremony in many cultures.Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a socially recognized union or legal contract between spouses that establishes right and obligation between them, their children and their in-laws as well as the society in general.
Marriage is based on the truth that men and women are complementary, the biological fact that reproduction depends on a man and a woman, and the reality that children need a mother and a father (Anderson, 2015).Anderson further stated Flourishing Creativity & Literacy that marriage is the society's least restrictive means of ensuring the well-being of children.By encouraging the norms of marriage monogamy, sexual exclusivity and performance, the state strengthens civil society and reduces its own role that is the reason why a peaceful home makes for a peaceful society and an unstable home subsequently brings about an unstable society.
Marriage has been part of human culture for thousands of years and almost all culture and religion on the planet have some sort of partnership ceremony.In some cultures, men are allowed to have multiple wives, but in most places marriages are limited to one man and one woman.Marriage in Imo State is never a union between a man and a man or woman and another woman as it may be in some cases in some countries today.
Marriage comes with many benefits which make a satisfactory difference in one's life.The society is crafted to make life happy for married couples (Bradbury, 2000).Marriage provides financial stability besides companionship; it allows one to have someone who will share one's feelings and experiences.It gives the spouses social and religious acceptance.Marriage brings about better sex life, good marital health, and companion to grow old with.It gives the children a positive and secures life style, brings about commitment in life, true love and gives a happier life (Bradbury, Fincham & Beach, 2000).Marriage is associated with utmost importance in the life of married persons.Empirical evidence has accumulated that married people have a healthier life-style (Wait and Galapher, 2006); live longer (Seltzer, 2000); have a satisfying sexual life relationship (Kim and McKenry, 2002); have more wealth and economic assets and that children generally do better when raised in a two-parent home (Odebunmi, 2007).Stable marriages produce stable children and families which in turn gives rise to a stable society, and for the world to be at peace, marriages, homes, families must be at peace (Ojukwu, 2013).Upon all the aforementioned benefits of marriage and marital life, the institution of marriage has suffered a dramatic decline in patronage by young persons.However, marital instability has become a thing of concern in our contemporary society and this is associated with separation, divorce and single parenthood.Meanwhile, the term marital instability is the process whereby there is marriage un-satisfaction which could lead to marriage breakdown, separation, desertion or divorce.According to Ojukwu (2013) marriage institution is recently confronted with many devastating challenges and crisis.Some of the challenges include wife employment (Ogunsanmi, 2005) and absence of the traditional preparation for marriage (Onwuasonya, 2005).Other problems include identity problems, conflict in marital roles, betrayal of trust, erosion of structural interdependence, immaturity on the part of the spouses or married persons, faulty communication and influences of wrong models (Bassey, 2008).The institution of marriage has suffered a dramatic decline partly due to increased divorce rates.However, the most disturbing problem is high rate of marital instability which results in marriage separation, divorce, single parenthood, positive response to couple cohabitation and same sex marriage.It is now not stigmatizing in Imo State for women to request for dissolution of marriage and men to celebrate their egocentricity by frivolously requesting for a liberty from the shackles of matrimony with pride (Ebigbo, 2002).
As a result of marital challenges and crises, the marriage institution is now faced with a low patronage and commitment to the causes of its survival (Okon, Oyibo, Tella and Tella, 2008).For example, Okon et al. observed that people, especially young educated men and women are running away from getting into marriage relationship.A close look at the age, maturity and personality of the Nigerian post graduate students revealed that many of the men who are mature enough and who should have been married are still out of the marriage institution (Okon et al., 2008).
The probability of attaining happy, satisfying and stable marriages has been reportedly declined (Ojukwu, 2013).Glenn (1998) has speculated that a decline in the ideal of marital quality and stability has made persons less willing and less able to make the commitments, sacrifices and investment of energy, time and cost opportunity that are necessary to make marriages succeed.Marital discord, crisis and instability have serious effect on youths, husband and wife as well as on the general society (Denga, 2004).Most of the major problems and behaviors exhibited by our youths are traceable to the kinds of home they come from (Ojukwu, 2013).Marital discord and disharmony have tremendous impact on the behaviors of our youth (Akinboye, 1999).
Literature has revealed that social unrest, delinquency, crime and some sickness are frequently associated with marital discord and family fragmentation (Ojukwu, 2014).It has also been reported that marital discord and instability lead to distress, depression and negative attitude in parents which in turn affect their parenting style or interaction with their children (Sinha and Sharma, 2001).Again, Kang and Jaswal (2009) asserted that a home environment that is characterized by quarreling, nagging and disagreement has deleterious effects on both parents and children.High conflict between parents is associated with negative feelings and behavior directed towards their children and in turn with disruptions in social and cognitive competency and increased antisocial behavior in children (Kang and Jaswal, 2009).
It has been noticed that armed robbery and kidnapping cases have been on the increase in Imo State recently.There is hardly any day that passes that the media will not carry news about robbery or kidnapping case in Imo State (Ojukwu, 2014).Could this have any bearing to the marital crises and instability among married persons in the state which the mass media have been reporting is on the increase in Imo State marriages?
The awareness of the extent of the effect of marital instability on individuals and on the society as well as consequent negative attitude of the youths towards marriage has resulted in increasing interest in ways of controlling and minimizing the destructive experiences (Onwuasonya, 2005).Among the numerous choices which are usually under consideration prior to accepting or proposing for marriage is the educational background and educational attainment of the proposed spouse (male or female).This consideration is usually based on the belief that marrying a spouse with a high level of educational attainment may result to having a high Intelligent Quotient offspring which the marriage may beget in time to come.Some young persons are also of the opinion that persons of high educational attainment is a guarantee to securing a promising future as the married persons would by virtue of their qualifications get good jobs that would attract better pay to take care of the family.Little or no considerations have gone to check if a person with a high level of educational attainment has got the ability to make available the rudiments that makes for a stable marriage, home and family.That is one of the reasons that prompted this study which was set out to investigate whether educational attainment could be a predictor of a stable marriage among married persons in Imo State.
Educational attainment is the highest level of education an individual has successfully completed.Another term typically used in the literature is (highest) educational qualification.Educational attainment distinguishes individuals on a vertical scale, i.e. educational attainment categories can largely (although often not entirely) be ordered hierarchically.
For the purpose of this study, educational attainment is categorized thus: SSCE and below will be regarded as low educational attainment, while Diploma to First Degree will be seen as medium educational attainment and finally, Masters to PhD will represent high educational attainment.Educational attainment refers to an important direct outcome of education (Fehintola, 2009).
Education not only provide basic knowledge and skills to improve health and livelihood, but it empowers men and women to take their rightful place in their homes, society and development process.Education gives men and women the status and confidence to influence household decisions.Educating young men and women is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty (Fehintola, 2009).In Imo State society early 1970s and 1980s experienced growth in terms of social, economic and educational development.This brought about increased movement away from the traditional way of life due to industrialization, education, influence of electronic media and exposure to foreign cultures.In the traditional setting, an Imo State woman brought up right from youth in ways which will get her ready for marriage and make her settle down to a successful and stable marriage.She was taught the different roles she would play as a woman, in terms of home making, motherhood, having good relationship with her husband and in-laws (Fehintala, 2009).She was taught the art of patience and submissiveness towards her husband in order to be able to play these roles successfully.Traditionally, in the years past parents and husbands were satisfied with a female child playing only the role of a wife and a mother as stipulated by the Nigeria culture (Ayandokeun, 2001).Today it has been realized that female children also attain positions of honor in the society and marry men of high social standing.They have seen education and exposure to other cultures as a means of achieving these objectives.
At an early age, the Imo State or Igbo female is sent to school, she learns to see the male as her equals as they do not seem to possess more intelligence than her.She is exposed to western cultures having values that are quite different from African value and gradually shifting from the patience and submissive person she used to be, who was ready to restrain her life to the narrow boarders of the environment in which she had been and bred to a more pushful person, competing with men in terms of educational attainment and positions in the world of work.Ojukwu (2016) revealed that female students compete effectively with their male counterpart in almost all the professions.The female students may have been influenced by the performance of some women who have been appointed to prominent positions in the country.With the help of Information Communication Technology (ICT) where the world has become a global village, female students could easily read the achievement of the women who have excelled in all their chosen professions and would want to model their lives after them.Hence, more determination for hard work and resolve to achieve and excel (Ojukwu, 2016).Asana, (2000) noted that the role of the man in the Nigerian culture is that of a master and controller of home.He further stated that he wants to maintain this role all the time and does not want a situation that will militate against it lest society sees him as a weakling.Some men are weary of marrying women who have acquired higher education.Men in this group will contend that it will be easier for them to be able to have control over women who do not have more than a school certificate education or those who did not attend school at all regardless of their own educational background.This is with the belief that such will not see them as equals and as such give them enough respect and thereby enabling them master of the home (Ojukwu, 2014).
A graduate marrying a primary school certificate holder, will soon realize that their varying social status could create gap between himself and the wife especially when relating to other people belonging to their varying social groups with varying societal values that cannot match.This could be a source of conflict and possible failure of their marriage (Kumuiyi, 2004).It may be assumed that such gap could be bridged by time when the couple must have grown to understand themselves better with time.Nwokocha (2002) noted that a woman with primary school certificate who did not bother to know how to relate to people in her graduate husband's social class will with time learn more about her in her marriage if she has to succeed, and this also applies to the man.Some men, due to the exposure in higher institutions of learning believe that they will be more compatible with women who are also well educated like themselves (Eze, 2002).They believe they will be able to communicate effectively with such women and be easily understood by them.Many at times they may discover that their wives are hardly at home due to demands of jobs that are as time consuming as those of their husbands (Becker, Elizabeth & Robert, 1999).This may lead to feelings of being neglected and uncared for the man who is usually left to the mercy of house helps who take the place of their wives at home (Ojukwu, 2015).Also, the man at times develops the feeling of inadequacy especially if the wife works with men who are more successful than himself and due to the wife's sense of dressing and sophistication, infidelity is often suspected and this can lead to marital failures (Asana, 2000).In some situations, women find themselves attaining high levels of education than their husband.Men who have acquired wealth without adequate education to back it up may want their wives to acquire more education than themselves so they become asset in the running of the family's business and could give some degree of prestige to the man and family (Philippe and Lochner, 2008).When the man has a lower educational qualification than the wife and his financial standing is also lower, he may develop feeling of resentment, jealousy and incapability at being able to have a control over his household, especially if the man did not approve of such educational attainment.The situation may lead to instability, eventual separation or divorce in the marriage.

Statement of the problem
Marriage is considered to be very important in the life of an individual.In modern times, acquiring education can be seen as one of the preparation young persons has to make towards marriage.Education helps individuals to adapt to a new environment.In Nigeria, education is seen as the only means of getting to the top hierarchy in any endeavor (Ojukwu, 2016).The acquisition of good education and attainment of high educational levels brings about the acquisition of honor in the society, good jobs increases financial standing which will enable married persons to assist each other in alleviating financial problems in their home.
The acquisition of education on the part of a woman can also militate against her marital success especially if there is disparity in her level of education and that of her spouse and vice versa.
The increase in divorce rates is one of the most visible changes in contemporary family life.The increase of the new forms of instability in today's marriages calls for a deep analysis of the new phenomena in order to understand their causes and consequences on the well-being of separated or divorced partners.
Social unrest, delinquency, crime and sickness are frequently associated with marital discord and family fragmentation (Ojukwu, 2014).There has been a decline in the ideal of marital quality and stability which made persons less willing and less able to make the commitments, sacrifices and investment of energy, time and lost opportunity that are necessary to make marriages succeed.
Unstable marriages give rise to unstable families which produce unwholesome children who subsequently cause social unrest to the society at large; no wonder armed robbery and kidnapping cases have been on the increase in Imo State recently.There is hardly any day that passes that the mass media will not carry news about robbery or kidnapping cases in Imo State.It is noted that home economics and home makers marriage counselors, ministers of various churches and perhaps even family social scientists and social welfare officers may possess a great wisdom about how to achieve and maintain happy, satisfying and stable marriage, but such knowledge is hardly based on any systematic research (Ojukwu, 2013).That is why the researchers seek to investigate whether educational attainment could be a predictor of marital stability among married persons in Imo State.Also, In spite of the enormous amount of research that may have been devoted to the topic, truly scientific evidence about the impact of educational attainment on marital stability has been so little and limited.To explore these issues among others are the problems of this study.The study therefore was carried out to throw more light in this respect and see how educational attainment could proffer solutions to stable marriages in Imo State.Again as a result of the limited attention that has been paid in this area, this research will be carried out to address the problems raised and fill the gap in knowledge using married persons in Imo State.

Objectives of the study
The main objective of the study was to investigate the impact of educational attainment level on marital stability among married persons in Imo State.
The specific objectives of the study included: 1.To determine the relationship between educational attainment level and marital stability of married persons in Imo State.
2. To find out if place of residence (location) has any relationship between educational attainment level and marital stability.

Research Questions
The following research questions guided the study: 1. What is the relationship between educational attainment and marital stability of Imo married persons?
2. Will marriage Location affect marital stability of Imo married persons?

Method
The study adopted casual-comparative design.This was used because the researchers were only interested in determining the impact of the independent variable of educational attainment in its low, medium and high levels on the dependent variable of marital stability.It involved collection of data for the purpose of describing and interpreting existing situation.Nworgu (1991) noted that casual-comparative derives from the fact that in this type of study, groups differentiated in terms of some independent variables are compared on a given dependent variable.Differences in the dependent variable across the groups are attributed to the independent variables.Nwankwo (2013) stated that ex-post factor or casual comparative design involves collecting and analyzing data about some variables retrospectively or about some variables which are already in place without manipulating any of them in order to find out how some of them influence or are related to other variables.
This research design is ideal for this study because the researchers have no control over the variables of interesteducational attainment of married persons and their marital stability.The researchers did not manipulate them but only linked some already existing effect or observation educational attainment as causative agents.The researchers find that the subjects-married persons are already married and had made their choices and what was considered was the impact of their levels of educational attainment on their marital stability of the married persons' used for the study.

Population of the Study and Sampling Technique
The population for the study targeted 1000 married persons but 803 successfully completed and returned their questionnaires which were analyzed.The questionnaires were distributed for the study in the 10 Local Government Areas out of the 27 that make up the state.They were simple randomly selected, 100 married persons from each Local Government made up of 50 married men and 50 married women.Local Government Areas were selected through stratified random sampling which gave all the LGAs chance of being selected.

Instrumentation
The study made use of questionnaire for the collection of data.The questionnaire was tagged "Educational attainment and marital adjustment scale".It had three sections A, B and C as follows:

Section A: Demographic Data
This section sought information on the demographic data of respondents.It was designed by the researchers to elicit biographic information of the respondents.Among the items required included sex, age, duration of marriage and Local Government Area of residence (or location) of the respondent.

Section B: Educational Attainment Scale (EAS)
The section which was also developed by the researchers was composed of questions that sought information on the Educational Attainment of respondents.The scale was comprehensive and elicited information from the respondents on their educational attainments.The educational attainment levels were categorized as follows: 1. First School Leaving Certificate (FSLC) to Senior School Certificate Education (SSCE) was regarded as a low educational attainment level.
2. Ordinary National Diploma (OND) to First Degree was regarded as medium educational attainment level and finally Master's Degree to Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) as high educational attainment level.
The draft copies of Sections A, & B were distributed to the experts in psychology as well as measurement and evaluation of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike.Their criticisms and suggestions led to the modification of certain items of the questionnaire thereby strengthening the face and content validity of the scale.

Section C: Dyadic Marital Adjustment (DMAS)
This was originally developed by Spanier (1980) and has been a very popular instrument used to measure marital quality, adjustment, happiness, satisfaction and stability.It comprised questions on the marital stability of the respondents.This instrument was adapted and was used by the researchers to collect information on the marital stability of the respondents.The Dyadic Marital Adjustment Scale was chosen due to its ability to show satisfaction or distress on a variety of questions.The DMAS uses four (4) sets of questions paired by a 6-point Likert scale with response options similar to (Always agree).The response options change slightly and some are reverse coded to reflect the types of answers being asked.Examples of these sets of questions are: (a) Agreement or disagreements on religious matters, demonstrations of affection, and decisions; (b) How often the couples quarrel, discuss separation, get on each other's nerves (c) If they engage in outside interests together (d) How often they work together, discuss something calmly, and have a stimulating exchange of ideas.
Scores range from 0 -161 with higher scores indicating higher marital stability and a cut off score of 100 between satisfied and dissatisfied (Crane, 2000).The scale consists of the following sub scales: Dyadic consensus encompasses the agreement partners in a relationship with regard to the following: matters friendship, proper behavior, philosophy of life, ways of dealing with parents and in-laws, agreement on aims and goals, agreement on time spent together, decision making, division of labour, leisure activities and career decisions (Spanier, 1980).There was 13 items that measure consensus and an example of the type of question asked, "Most persons have disagreements within their relationships.Please indicate below the appropriate extent of the agreement or disagreement between you and your partner for each item on the following list "Handling of finances or Matters of recreation".
Affectional expression pertains to demonstrations of affection and sexual relations (Spanier, 1980).This factor is made up of four items and the following is an example of the question asked, "Please indicate below the appropriate extent of the agreement or disagreement between you and your partner each item on the following list "sex relations or demonstration of affection".This question has to be answered to always agree.
Dyadic Cohesion refers also to how connected or separate the partners are in the marriage system (Spanier, 1980).
There are 5 items that represent this scale and examples of these questions asked are: "In general, how often do you think that things between you and your partner are going well" dyadic satisfaction refers to overall satisfaction within the relationship 10 items represent this factor and the questions asked are "how often do you and your spouse leave the house after a fight?"

Revalidation and reliability of the questionnaire
Ojukwu ( 2013) re-validated DMAS to determine its validity and reliability in the Nigerian context.A Cronbach's alpha of .82 was obtained.

Data collection
The researchers traveled to the 10 Local Government Areas of the State used for the study to administer the questionnaire on the selected sample.They were assisted by six research assistants who were recruited and trained on the administration, collection and scoring of the questionnaire.

Data analysis
Married persons' score for each of the items on the scale were summoned up for each person to determine the person's marital stability.Spearman's Correlation Coefficient and independent T-test analysis were used in analyzing the data collected for the study.

RESULTS
The results of the study are presented in this section:

Relationship between educational attainment and marital stability
The first Research Question was, "What is the relationship between educational attainment and marital stability of Imo married persons?" The Spearman's Correlation Test was conducted to determine the relationship between educational attainments in their three categories of low, medium and high educational levels and marital stability.The result of the study is summarized in Table 1.The results show a positive but low relationship between educational attainment and marital stability (rs = 0.327**).This is an indication that positive or linear relationship exists between marital stability and educational attainment levels of Imo married persons.The coefficient of determination (rs 2 = 0.107) indicates that educational attainment explains for 10.7% of variation in marital stability, meaning that persons with high levels of educational attainment are more likely to have high levels of marital stability and their marriage may last longer than others with lower educational qualifications.

Effect of marriage location on marital stability
The second Research Question was, "Will marriage location affect marital stability of Imo married persons?"To verify the effect of location of marriage on Imo married persons' marital stability an independent t-test was ran and the result of which is presented in Table 4: The results in Table 2 show that significant difference exist between urban and rural location of married persons' marital stability as the t-calculated (t-cal.=3.73) is greater than t-critcal (t-crit = 1.96).With mean difference of 3.48, rural dwellers exhibit more marital stability (M=59.72)than their urban counterparts (M= 56.24).

Discussion
The main aim of the study was to determine the impact of educational attainment on the marital stability of Imo married persons.It also sought to find out if place of residence or location of marriage has any relationship with educational attainment and marital stability.Findings revealed that there was a significant low and positive relationship between educational attainment and marital stability.
The findings support those of earlier studies by Ojukwu (2013) and Asana (2008) whose findings revealed that some men are weary of marrying women who have acquired higher education.Men with lower educational levels contend that it was better and easier for them to be able to have control over women who do not have more than a school certificate education.The findings also support the work of Eze ( 2002) who revealed that some men due to their experience and higher qualification believe that they will be more compatible with women who are also well educated like themselves.They believe they will be able to communicate effectively with such women and would be easily understood by them.
Another reason to be proffered for this positive relationship in this level of educational attainment suggests that with age comes less arousal, yet happier times and that age is hypothesized to be the third predictor of marital interaction.Thus, less interaction and fewer disagreements and negative statements are predicted as couple's age increases.Married persons with high educational levels certainly have spent much time in pursuing their higher degrees and as they do, age also increases.This may be another reason for the positive relationship between their educational attainment and their marital stability.
Results from research question 2 indicate that there is significant difference between location of marriage and marital stability.This also supports an earlier study by Ojukwu (2013) which showed that there is a generally higher marital stability among marriages in the rural areas than marriages in the urban areas.That marital stability is stronger in the rural areas than urban areas could be attributed to many factors which may include religion and marital roles.There is a strong religious orientation in the rural areas than in the urban areas.This supports previous findings in this area.
According to Davidson and Moore (1996) a strong religious orientation in the marriage provides a source of social support and an opportunity for engaging in family activities and religious service together, Giblin(1994) also revealed that couples who are more religious oriented showed greater marital stability resulting from increased give and take, increased self-sacrifice and altruism.
Another possible explanation to account for the relationship found between location of marriage and marital stability could be marital roles.Past researchers have found that in the rural areas wife completed most of the total household chores and they were very few tasks in which the husband contributed (Swaminathan, 1995).Also Stevens, Kiger and Ridey (2001) found that marital stability is the highest for couples that have worked out an agreeable division of labour.
The authors further revealed that for women, satisfaction with the division of household tasks, dealing with problems at home and their contributions to household and status enhancement tasks was the most significant predictors of marital stability.Also, satisfaction with the division labour, dealing with problems at home and house work were significant predictors for men's marital stability.This is true because in the rural areas, tradition has set out roles for husbands and wives and if each faithfully carries out his/her own roles there should be marital stability.

Conclusion and Recommendation
According to Okorodudu (2010), there appears to be a kind of downward trend in marriage patronage in our society.The trend is prevalent in both western and non-western cultures.Also, in the recent decade, there seems to be a cut down in the interest of young people willing to go into marriage.For example, Okon et al. (2008) pointed out that it is not an overstatement to say that the credibility that people attached to marriage has begun to dwindle and that the rate at which people are getting married has been drastically reduced as a result of the retreat of men and women from getting married or patronizing marriage in our society today.However, in consideration of the enormous benefits of marriage to man and the society as well as the fact that a stable home will result to a stable society and a stable nation, a study directed at finding out factors that will enhance marital stability, in this case impact of educational attainment levels on marital stability should be a welcome development.Findings showed that there is a positive relationship between low and high educational attainment levels and marital stability while medium educational attainment level showed no significant relationship with marital stability.Also location of marriage, educational attainment levels predicted marital stability.
Based on the findings it is recommended that marriage seminars, workshops, conferences and marital counselling services which are designed to help educate intending couples regarding choice of partners based on educational attainments should be organized by those engaged in marriage molding such as Home Economist Professional Association, Ministers Of Social Development and Women Affairs at Federal, State and Local Government Levels, Counseling Association Of Nigeria and so on.

Table 1 .
Relationship between Low educational attainment and marital stability (n = 399)

Table 2 .
Independent t-test analysis of effect of location on marital stability