EFFECT OF LENGTH OF MARRIAGE THE SOURCES OF MARITAL PROBLEMS AMONG MARRIED FEMALE STUDENTS

CHAPTER ONE:

 INTRODUCTION

  Background to the Study 

Education of women has been recognized as a crucial panacea for development of any  nation. In virtually all public interactions, which have been convened to fashion out ways and  means of optimizing the country's educational development, the need to provide women with  equal opportunities of acquiring education including tertiary education has been emphasized.  The continued emphasis of the need for quality, sound education of women is rooted in the  saying that if you educate one woman, you have educated a nation. Government's effort at  ensuring sound, quality education of women is reflected partly by its provision of post-  primary female institutions of learning and its award of special scholarships to female  students of various institutions of learning in the country. This intervention has spurred the  women to pursue education to its zenith stage, the tertiary level. In the tertiary institutions  established across the country, women have been enrolled in different courses of study.  While some of these women are single, others are married. Married women have been  acquiring tertiary education in the country with a plethora of challenges, which significantly  affect theiracademic performance. It has been observed that most of the challenges affecting  the performance of married female students of tertiary institutions have their roots in their  marriage. 

Marriage has been considered as a must-do thing by people in most societies of the  world. This explains why in virtually all societies of the globe, unions called marriage exist  between people of opposite sex. Marriage, which is embedded in the general culture of the  society, involves a rigid, hierarchical structure that centres on the marital roles of the  partners. Generally, while the male marriage partner acts as father, husband, breadwinner, provider, protector, guard, and head, the female marriage partner serves as wife, mother, housekeeper, and child caretaker. However, in modern times, the marital roles of the  marriage partners have undergone changes. It is possible now to for instance find the male  marriage partner acting as house keeper and the female marriage partner acting as  breadwinner. 

Marriage could be understood in different ways depending on the intents of the  marriage partners. While some marriages could be for the purpose of love, companionship,  and childbearing, others could be for purposes of satisfaction of emotional and material  needs. A female marriage partner, who is responsible for cooking in the house for her  husband, is likely to have some conflict with her husband especially when she is not at home  to discharge that responsibility of cooking. Her husband may show no understanding with her  over her not being available to cook for him or the family. He might consequently find  outside the matrimonial home somebody else, who will discharge that role for him until his  wife resumes the role of cooking after completing her studies. Knowledge of this  extramarital relationship will give his wife worry, which might force her to lose concentration  on her studies and perform poorly at school. 

James W. (1999) says, “Where also the female marriage partner's role in marriage is providing love to her husband, there will likely be a rift between her and her husband especially when she is no longer there to satisfy the love needs of the husband. Her husband might require her to abandon studies and attend to his sexual demands. Unwillingness to meet sexual demands  might push her husband to go into extramarital affairs with other women. Readiness to satisfy  her husband's sexual needs might result in pregnancy, which will make her lose  concentration on her studies and consequently preclude her from performing to the desired academic standards”. 

Where again the female marriage partner's role is child bearing, there will be the  tendency of her husband providing her with pregnancies while she is studying at school. A  man who has married mainly for the purpose of reproduction may not have the courage of  waiting for his wife to complete her studies before impregnating her. Such a man may not be  ready for family planning. Pregnancy comes with complications including weakness of  body, loss of appetite, and change of body temperature, which require much time expenditure  at the hospital or clinic. Such expenditure of time will obviously generate loss of  concentration on studies on the part of the female married student. Also, pregnancy comes  with the responsibility of baby care, which reserves little or no time for the married female  student to attend to her studies at school. When the married female student is unwilling to  reproduce while studying at school, she enters in the bad book of her husband. Sanctions  such as inadequate provision of pocket money for feeding are imposed by the husband, and  this renders her studying efforts futile. 

Where additionally the marriage female partner's role is taking care of the house, and  she is wholly dependent on her husband for money, there may also be the tendency of her not  getting the money she needs to offset the costs of her education and at the same time provide  for the domestic needs of the family. Inability of her husband to fully address her financial  needs might put her in the mood of displeasure. Disrespect for the husband will likely result  from this. Consequently, suspension of financial aid may be applied by the husband as a  sanction, and this will negatively affect her ability to acquire the things she needs to study  effectively and achieve good performance at school. 

Marriage is supposed to help the women to attain their goals in education. With a husband, a woman is supposed to enjoy some moral and financial support that could make learning much easier for her at school. A husband can raise the money that is needed for the training of his wife. He can provide the counsel that could encourage his wife to overcome  any difficulties she might face in the school. He can provide his wife with the motivation that  she needs to successfully address challenging academic tasks. This notwithstanding, married  female students of tertiary institutions in Kebbi State are observed to be facing marital  problems, which are affecting their academic performance. They have been observed to  constitute a significant portion of the spill-over and carry-over cases of the available tertiary  institutions in the State. It is in the light of the preceding backdrop that this study became necessary. 

According to Mr. P. S. Oyelowo, “Created on 27thAugust, 1991, what is now Kebbi State was formerly part of the old Sokoto State, with its capital, Birnin Kebbi, as just a local government. The then old Sokoto State was described as an educationally disadvantaged State. This description was informed by a variety of factors the major of which is the fact that the State then had no tertiary institutions which could provide its indigenes with opportunities of furthering their education and that it had inadequate competent teaching staff in the available few institutions of learning at the time. Worried by the acute shortage of institutions of higher learning in the then State with its attendant consequences of growing shortage of qualified manpower, the Federal Government then decided to intervene by providing it with a Polytechnic, which could produce quality manpower needed for addressing the manpower problems of the

State in particular and Nigeria in general. 

Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, which is representative of the Federal Government's intervention in the educational challenges of the then Sokoto State was established in Birnin Kebbi, then a small town. The Institution which began with a student  population of 144 students and staff strength of 17 teaching and non-teaching staff, ran Pre-  ND courses in its first year/session of existence and operations as an institution of higher  learning known then as College of Technology”. 

Details of the courses, past and present leaders, course accreditation status and  colleges of the Institution are contained in the appropriate tables in appendix I 

 Statement of the Problem 

In Kebbi State in particular and Nigeria in general, marriage, which is supposed to be  a blessing to the women who are acquiring tertiary education, has turned out to be an  impediment to their academic pursuits. Marriage has given the female students the problem  of stress arising from their combination of childbearing and domestic chores with studying  activities such as lectures attendance, examination preparation, research field work,  excursions, laboratory practical exercises, and sporting activities. This combination reserves  them little or no time to concentrate on their studies and consequently makes it very difficult  for them to earn good grades in continuous assessment tests or examinations. Marriage has  also given them the problem of finance arising from their dependence on their husbands for  money needed to finance domestic and educational activities. This inadequacy of money has  made it difficult for them to provide themselves with the necessary learning materials that  they need to study and acquire the knowledge needed for optimal performance in continuous  assessment tests or examinations in school. 

Marriage has again given them the problem of worry arising from the fear that their husbands could abandon them and engage in extra marital affairs with other women. This worry has made it difficult for them to concentrate fully on their studies and achieve desired  academic performance. These problems and their attendant consequences are what struck the  mind of the researcher to conduct this study. The main thrust of this study is therefore to  investigate the effects of marital problems on the academic performance of married female  students of tertiary institutions in Kebbi State.

  Research Questions  

The research questions instituted for this study are stated as follows: 

1. What is the effect of length of marriage involving religious sources of marital problems among married female students of Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, Birnin Kebbi.

2.  What is the effect of length of marriage involving sexual relations sources of marital problems among married female students of Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, Birnin Kebbi.

3. What is the effect of length of marriage involving interpersonal relations sources of marital problems among married female students of Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, Birnin Kebbi.

4.What is the effect of length of marriage involving decision-making sources of marital problems among married female students of Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, Birnin Kebbi.

5. What is the effect of length of marriage involving In-law’s interference sources of marital problems among married female students of Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, Birnin

Kebbi.

6. What is the effect of length of marriage involving children sources of marital problems among married female students of Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, Birnin Kebbi.

1.4 Objectives of the Study 

      The specific objectives of the study are as follows:

1. To find out the effect of the length of marriage involving religious sources of marital problems among married female students of Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, Birnin Kebbi.

2.  To find out the effect of length of marriage involving sexual relations sources of marital problems among married female student of Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, Birnin Kebbi.

3. To find out the effect of the length of marriage involving Inter-personal relations sources of marital problems among married female students of Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, Birnin Kebbi.

4.     To find out the effect of length of marriage involving decision-making sources of marital problems among married female students of Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic Birnin Kebbi.

5.To find out the effect of length of marriage involving In-law’s interference sources of marital problems among married female students of Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, Birnin Kebbi.

6.To find out the effect of length of marriage involving children sources of marital problems among married female students of Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, Birnin Kebbi.

Research Hypotheses  

The research hypotheses formulated for this study are stated below: 

1.There is no significant effect of length of marriage on sources of marital problems involving religion understanding among married female students of Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, Birnin Kebbi.

2 There is no significant effect of length of marriage on sources of marital problems involving sexual relations among married female students of Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, Birnin Kebbi.

3. There is no significant effect of length of marriage on sources of marital problems involving interpersonal relations among married female students of Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, Birnin Kebbi.

4. There is no significant effect of the length of marriage on sources of marital problems involving decision-making among married female students of Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, Birnin Kebbi.

5. There is no significant effect of length of marriage on sources of marital problems involving In-law interference among married female students of Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, Birnin Kebbi.

6. There is o significant effect of length of marriage on sources of marital problems involving children among married female students of Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, Birnin Kebbi.

Scope and Delimitations of the Study 

This study was designed to cover all married female students of tertiary institutions in  Kebbi State. Due to time and financial constraints, the researcher selected only one tertiary  institution, the Federal Polytechnic, Birnin Kebbi, for the study. Married female students of  the Polytechnic constituted the population of the study. The specific focus of the study was  on effect of  length of marriage among married female students of the Polytechnic on their sources of marital problems, some of these variables that are sources on this study are,  religious understanding, sexual relations, interpersonal relations, decision making, in-laws'  interference and children. The variables that are delimited are sexual harassment, spousal violence are not part of the study, but could equally affect the length of marriage. 

Significance of the Study 

The findings of this study would first of all be useful to the married female students of  tertiary institutions, that it would help them to identify and understand the beginning and  nature of the sources of marital problems they might be experiencing. This would help them to position themselves in such a way that would make it easy for them to perform to the desired  academic standards. 

The findings of this study would also be very useful to parents; they should not be so  much involved in their children issues so that the married female students can concentrate on  their academics. Teachers should encourage and develop the married female students to  improve in their academics, after they have known what the effect of their problems is. Institutional heads should encourage the married female students that no matter the  marital problem they should still face their academics. Husbands should try to get attention