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Category: Volume 07 Issue 10 October 2019
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Title: Marital dissatisfaction and perceived social support as predictors of depression among married individuals

Authors: Okoli, Paul Chibuike, PhD, Ezeme, Mark Sunday, MBBS, FMC Psych., Ofojebe, Chukwuma, Philip, PhD

 DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v7i10.82

Abstract

  

This study investigated marital dissatisfaction and perceived social support as predictors of depression among married individuals. The participants for this study comprised of 276 members of Catholic Men Organization (CMO) and Catholic Women Organization (CWO) of Awka Diocese, selected through the use of simple random sampling technique. Their age ranged from 24 to 55 years, with a mean of age of 46.12 and a standard deviation of 18.34. Instruments administered on them included Index of Marital Satisfaction (IMS), Depression subscale (Scale D) of Symptom Distress Checklist-90 (SCL-90), and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). Multiple Linear Regression Statistic was used to analyze the data collected. Result showed that the first hypothesis was not confirmed, and that the last three hypotheses were confirmed. Based on these findings, it revealed that while marital dissatisfaction was found not to be a factor positively predicting depression among married individuals in Awka Diocese, social support domains (e.g. family, friends, and significant others) were found to negatively predict depression among married individuals. Therefore, based on these results, it was recommended that married individuals should not only ensure that they seek for ways of making their marital experiences more positive in other to checkmate marital dissatisfaction, they should also endeavour to see that the three domains of social support present in their lives are positive as well. This should be so, for such positive nature of these variables will go a long way in preventing them from presenting with depression.

Keywords: Marital dissatisfaction, perceived social support, depression, married individuals.

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Corresponding Author

Okoli, Paul Chibuike, PhD.

Department of Internal Medicine ESUT College of Medicine, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu-Nigeria