Kheswa, J.G.Emehinola, Gbadebo Oluwafemi2026-07-302026-07-302023-12-06Emehinola, G.O. (2023) Psychosocial factors and mediating role of spiritual intelligence as cursors to marital satisfaction among married Christian couples in selected churches in Abeokuta Metropolis, Ogun State, Nigeria. PhD thesis. University of Fort Hare, South Africa.http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11837/4282PhD thesisGod Almighty ordained marriage, which signifies the ideal union between a man and a woman. This union gives rise to family, an extremely important social social group. Hence, it is referred to as the cornerstone of society, which provides stability and support and enhances the continuity of societal values. Therefore, going by the philosophy of an ideal family make-up, marriage and divorce become unique issues that must be seriously considered. The effect of divorce is a contending issue affecting the generality of Nigerians, be it in the Christian and Islamic faiths or other religions. Marital satisfaction, a concept used to assess happiness and stability in marriage, is most sought after by all couples. Therefore, selecting the ideal spouse is most desirable, though often confusing and difficult. However, where incompatibility occurs, marital satisfaction may be achieved when remedial counselling tools are applied. This present research investigated the psychosocial factors of economic status and couples’ family background and the mediating role of level of spirituality as cursors to marital satisfaction among married Christian couples in selected churches in Abeokuta metropolis, Ogun State, Nigeria. The effect of the psychosocial factors of economic status and couples’ family background with the mediating role of the level of spiritual knowledge on marital satisfaction among married Christian couples was examined in this present study. This would enable us to come up with recommendations that can proffer solutions to the problems of marital dissatisfaction, instability, separation and outright divorce and to propose a psycho-educational programme intended to restructure the mediating position of spiritual level and psychosocial factors on satisfaction maritally among Christian couples in Abeokuta. The study is a descriptive survey design that used the ex-post factory type self-developed instruments of the Family Economic Scale (FES), Couples Family Background Inventory (CFBI), Spiritual Intelligence Scale (SIS) and Marital Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ), which have a coefficient value of 0.87. A total of 1200 respondents participated. Regression, standard deviation, and mean analysis methods were employed to analyse the data collected. Results obtained from this present study show a significant predictive impact of psychosocial factors of socioeconomic status and couples’ family background on marital satisfaction. Spiritual intelligence contributed 68.6 per cent to the difference in the prediction of marital satisfaction among couples in the study area, indicating a significant predictive influence. Besides, spiritual intelligence facilitated the correlation between socioeconomic status, couples’ family background, and marital satisfaction. Also, spiritual intelligence was more potent in predicting marital satisfaction than psychosocial factors of socioeconomic status and couples’ family background among the respondents in the study area. The study recommends that social and religious values be strengthened to encourage marital stability and satisfaction through programmes on moral and religious persuasions.enMarriage -- NigeriaSpiritual intelligence -- NigeriaDivorce -- NigeriaFamiliesSocial EconomyThesis