Predicting marital satisfaction from the attachment styles and gender of a culturally and religiously homogenous population

Abstract

The study investigated the influence of attachment styles and gender on marital satisfaction. One hundred and fifty participants (73 males and 77 females) were randomly selected from members of a Christian organization, Ewet Offot and indigenous residents of Nwaniba Road, Uyo. Two instruments used were the Love (2001) Attachment Style Survey and Hudson (1982) Index of Marital Satisfaction adapted by Anene (1994) for Nigerian use. A 2x2 Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) for unequal sample sizes was used for data analysis.Two hypotheses were tested. The first hypothesis predicted a statistically significant difference in marital satisfaction between participants with secure and insecure attachment styles while the second hypothesis made a similar prediction in respect of gender. The first finding showed a significant difference between  participants with secure and insecure attachment styles on marital satisfaction [F(1,146) = 360.21, P that there was no significant difference between males and females on marital satisfaction [F(1,146) = 2.58, P>.05]. The interaction effect of attachment styles and gender was however found to be significant [F(1,146) = 5.00, P concerns about the role of gender in the study. Statistical evidence suggests that such interactions signify that any related variable, and in this case gender, has reliable effects on the measured variable. These manifest and latent findings were discussed in line with existing evidence and suggestions made for therapy, intervention and policy.