Personality traits and sexual satisfaction as determinants of marital satisfaction among couples in Ibadan

Abstract

Most marriages begin with spouses who report being satisfied and having high hopes for a long-term, successful relationship. Yet what still remains uncertain is which factors account for the differing degrees of marital satisfaction and the fluctuations in the marital quality (e.g. marital conflict) that spouses experience over time. This study therefore sets out to investigate personality traits and sexual satisfaction as determinants of marital satisfaction among couples in Ibadan. Cross-sectional survey research design was adopted to randomly sample 300 married persons in University College Hospital (UCH). A greater proportion of the respondents 56% were females, while the other 44% were males. Generated hypotheses were tested using appropriate statistical tool. Findings revealed that marital satisfaction had significant and positive relationship with sexual satisfaction (r = .56, p<.01), extroversion (r = .05, p>.05), agreeableness (r = .12, p<.05), neuroticism (r = .12, p<.05) and openness to experience (r = .18, p<.01). Further, married couples with low sexual satisfaction significantly reported lower scores on marital satisfaction than married couples with high sexual satisfaction (t = -13.87; df = 305; p<0.01). It was also discovered that extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience jointly explained 9% variance in marital satisfaction (R² = 0.09, F (5,302) = 5.94, p<.01); while only conscientiousness (β = -.27, p<.01) and openness to experience (β = .30, p<.01) were significant independent predictors of marital satisfaction. Finally, it was discovered that age, gender, and years of experience were no significant joint or independent predictors of marital satisfaction (R² = .01, F (3,304) = .74, p >.05). In light of the existing evidence of the prediction of marital satisfaction by sexual satisfaction, marriage counsellors, clergy men, and other important institutions for marriage should educate intending couples about the importance. Therefore, counselling or psychotherapy designed for married and intending married couples should also focus on demographic factors.

Keywords: Personality traits, Sexual satisfaction and marital satisfaction