Demographıc Characterıstıcs and Level of Marıtal Satısfactıon of Spouses Undergoıng Nullıfıcatıon Proceedıngs: Basıs for Marıtal Counselıng Program

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the level of marital satisfaction of spouses undergoing nullification proceedings and the effects of demographic characteristics on marital satisfaction. The study shows that there is more female who is seeking nullification of marriage compared to men. The ages of filing for annulment are between the ages of 28 to 47 years old and most of them were college graduates and have post-graduate degrees. Meanwhile, a lot of the respondents were married between the ages of 18 to 29 years old and they have been married for 1 to 10 years. Also, most of the respondents have children and are Overseas Filipino Worker. The level of marital satisfaction of the respondents shows that five (5) of the ten (10) domains show a high level of marital dissatisfaction on both spouses. That is in the domains of Global Distress, Affective Communication, Problem-Solving Communication, Time together, Disagreement about finances. Meanwhile, Aggression, Sexual Dissatisfaction, and Conflict over child-rearing are high on wives compared to husbands. There was no dissatisfaction with children were evaluated. The study also reveals that a history of family distress has negative impact on marital satisfaction to females compared to males. That is, wives who have had difficult and unhealthy family history shows high level of marital dissatisfaction compared to husbands who’ve had the same experience. Meanwhile, the relationship between all the demographic characteristics, such as gender, age, educational background, age of marriage, length of the marriage, number of children, present occupation, and income, and marital satisfaction is found statistically significant