MARITAL CONFLICTS AS CORRELATE OF MORAL ADJUSTMENT AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN ABIA STATE.

Abstract

This study determined the correlation between marital conflicts and moral adjustment among senior secondary school students in Abia state. The study adopted a correlational research design. Two research questions and two null hypotheses were used for the study. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select the sample size of 878 students from the population of 8783 senior secondary II students in Abia state. Marital Conflict Questionnaire (MCQ) and Moral Adjustment Questionnaire (MAQ) were used for data collection. The instruments were validated by three experts, two from Psychology and counselling and one from measurement and evaluation departments, all from Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State. Pearson product moment correlation coefficient was used to determine the stability of the instruments while Cronbach Alpha statistic was used to determine their internal consistencies. These yielded 0.723, and 0.742 coefficients for the stability of MAQ, and MCQ respectively as well as 0.764, and 0.676 for internal consistencies of MAQ, and MCQ respectively. Linear regression analysis was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings showed that there was no significant relative contribution of gender on the relationship between marital conflicts and students’ moral adjustment. Hence, marital conflicts to a very high extent positively correlate with the moral adjustment of students in Abia State. The study recommended among others that Government and school proprietors should employ and have at least a Psychologist or a school Counsellor to help the students resolve their moral adjustment challenges.