Abstract:
The link between marital expectations and marital satisfaction amongst
husband and wife in the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Jomoro
Municipality was explored in this study. Participants included married adults
of the Seventh-day Adventist church from the Jomoro Municipality. Two
research questions and two hypotheses served as the basis for the
investigation. For the purpose of conducting the study, the correlational
research design with a quantitative approach was used. The target audience
consisted of all married Seventh-day Adventists in the Jomoro Municipality,
which had a total population of 621 people. A multi-stage sampling technique
was used to engage 434 married individuals in the study. A standardized
questionnaire on marital expectations and marital satisfaction were used to
gather data from the respondents. Data on research questions 1 and 2 were
analysed using means and standard deviations. Data on hypotheses 1 and 2
were however tested using simple linear regression and the PROCESS
moderation analysis proposed by Hayes, using bootstrap samples. The study
found a positively weak relationship between marital expectations and marital
satisfaction. It was further discovered that although respondents had high
levels of marital expectations and marital satisfaction, Seventh-day Adventist
married individuals were not satisfied with their partner’s character,
temperament as well as the interference of in-laws in their marriages. It was
recommended that in-laws of married individuals should avoid excessive
interferences into the marriage of Seventh-day Adventists married individuals,
since excessive in-law inferences could result in marital dissatisfaction which
could in turn lead to divorce or separation on the part of the married
individuals.
