Marital Satisfaction and Personality Traits as Correlates of Psychopathological Symptoms among Married Christian Women

Abstract

The study examined marital satisfaction and personality traits as correlates of psychopathological symptoms among married women .Three hundred (300) participants of age range  between 30 to 65 years with  mean age of  32.78 years and standard deviation of 8.55  were selected from Catholic Women Organisation, Onitsha Archdiocese. Three instruments were used for the study, Symptom Distress Checklist 90 (SCL-90), The Big-Five Inventory (BFI)), and Index of Marital Satisfaction. The study was a survey and a correlational design. The Pearson product moment correlation coefficient was used to test for significant relationship. The result indicated a significant relationship between marital satisfaction and psychopathological symptoms (r (0.69, p<.05,(r (0.31, p<.05 and (r (0.61, p<.05) . Also, the second hypothesis was confirmed indicating a significant relationship between personality traits and psychopathological symptoms (r = -.49, p < .01). It was recommended that personality assessment of both intending couples and married couples is very crucial to enhance marital satisfaction thereby reducing the manifestation of psychopathological symptoms.