Marital Breakdown and Socio-Emotional Development of Adolescents in Ibadan Metropolis, Nigeria

Abstract

The incidence of marital breakdown is becoming alarming and taking its toll on the development of youths in Nigeria. This study investigated marital breakdown and socio-emotional development of adolescents in Ibadan Metropolis, Oyo State. Correlational research design was adopted for this study. An instrument which consisted of three sections, titled ‘Marital Breakdown and Socioemotional Development Questionnaire (MBSDQ) was used to collect information from the respondents. The validity of the instrument was done by experts in the Departments of Psychology and Counsellor Education, University of Ilorin, Nigeria. The reliability of the same was established using test re-test reliability method and correlation coefficients of 0.71 respectively was obtained. The descriptive data were analyzed using mean while the hypothesis was analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation at 0.05 level of significance. Result showed that the indices of marital breakdown is manifested in spouses having different ideas on issues, insulting each other, frequent fighting, and doing things separately among others. The indices of socio-emotional development (which is in this case is poor) are loneliness, depression, inability to accept feelings from others, feelings of hatred towards oneself, feelings of inferiority complex and feelings of hatred towards parents among others. There is a significant relationship between marital breakdown and socioemotional development of adolescents. In line with the findings, it was recommended that couples should as much as possible tolerate each other, show that they like and care about each other and do their utmost to prevent marital breakdown.