Role of Premarital Preparation in the First Ten Years of Marriage among Married Couples in Kanyangi Parish, Catholic Diocese of Kitui, Kenya
Loading...
Date
2018-08
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Tangaza University College
Abstract
Existing literature indicates a wealth of empirical research has been conducted in the
field of premarital preparation. These studies show that premarital preparation enhances
marital quality within the first years of marriage. However, many of these studies have
been undertaken with Western populations of young Euro American participants and
very limited research has been done in the Kenyan context. To address this gap in
knowledge, a study was carried out using a phenomenological research design to explore
the role of premarital preparation in the first ten years of a marriage among married
couples in Kanyangi parish of the Catholic Diocese of Kitui, Kenya. The study
embraced a purposive sampling technique in identifying the churches and the
participants. A sample population of 12 couples (24 participants) aged 20-45 years and
who had been married for one year to ten years participated in the study. Data was
collected using an interview guide and analyzed using thematic analysis to identify
patterns in the emerging themes related to the study objectives. Nine major themes
emerged from the data analysis and these include: Informal premarital preparation, skills
acquisition, assessment for marriage preparation, enriching marriage preparation, value
addition, marital quality, Christian model, the Kamba traditional model, and integrated
approach model. The findings indicated that premarital preparation in the first ten years
of marriage is an effective way of preventing marital distress, separation and divorce.
This data has enriched the existing data base on premarital preparation. It is
recommended that a quantitative study be undertaken in future to ensure that the results
can be generalized to other parts of Kenya.
Description
Keywords
African Traditional Perspective, Professional Premarital Preparation., The Modern African Traditional Counseling, Premarital Needs Assessment, Relationship Evaluation