Social-Demographic Predictors of Marital Disruption: A Case Study of Homa Bay County, Kenya
Hezron O. Agili – Faculty of Physical and Biological Sciences, Tom Mboya University, Kenya.
Daniel O. Odaro – Department of Geography and Natural Resources Management, Maseno University, Kenya.
Email: agili.hez@gmail.com / danielodaro79@gmail.com
Abstract: Most research on marital disruption tends to focus on the developed countries while socio-demographic studies on the phenomenon from sub-Saharan Africa are relatively limited. The study considered this knowledge gap through an investigation of the predictors of marital disruption. It aimed at establishing the major factors that contribute to marital disruptions with special focus in Homa Bay County, Kenya. The study used a cross sectional research design to collect retrospective and present status data. The respondents for this study consisted of 420 married women. The respondents were selected using simple random sampling technique. The data were analyzed by inferential statistics using Kaplan-Meier mean estimate, survival curve, log rank Chi-square test (Q) and binary logit regression. The study established that marital disruption is significantly influenced by the number of lifetime partners, housing tenure, childlessness, nature of employment – whether permanent or temporal – and maternal level of education. The findings also showed that in order of largest contribution by mean score, social factors (13.59), economic status (13.57), behavioral and emotional problems (13.52), marital factors (13.47), parental characteristics (13.43), sexual habits (13.13) and domestic factors (13.08) influence marital disruption. The study therefore recommends policy interventions that encourage one lifetime partner in nuptial relations, family life education, marriage and pre-marital counseling through seminars, lectures and workshops that inform and promote skills that maintain good marital relationships and foster re-union in case of separation or divorce.
