Marital conflicts among millennial couples in Zambia: a case of Chawama compound of Lusaka, Zambia.

Abstract

Conflict is generally defined as a struggle, disagreement, or a dispute which exists where human interactions occur and is seemingly an inevitable feature of any social group. Marital conflict is the conflict in marriage between the couple and millennial’s is a cohort born roughly between the years 1980s and 1995. In Chawama Township of Lusaka in Zambia there is a problem of marriages failing at a rate of one out of two. The aim of this research was to establish factors which lead to marital conflict among millennial couples in Chawama Township of Lusaka City. The study employed a concurrent mixed method design and used both quantitative and qualitative designs. Furthermore a document review was also done. Cross sectional study design was used for the quantitative methods and 36 participants who belonged to the millennial’s and were married were purposively selected and included in the study. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data. The qualitative component utilized the Phenomenology design and a sample size of 11 was used consisting of marriage counsellors and pastors involved in marital counselling. A semi structured interview guide was used for this component. Furthermore, a desktop review of documents, such as marriage journals, magazines, newspapers, books, court divorce case files was done. The study found that marital conflicts exists, and the most common factors associated with it are lack of premarital counselling, infidelity, finances, lack of communication and alcohol use among other things. The results showed that the most common type of conflict is fighting and physical violence which leads to divorce/separation as a major effect of these conflicts. In case the conflict leads to divorce children are affected psychologically and education wise. Therefore, proper premarital counselling and good preparation of the couple before they enter into marriage is vital to minimising the conflicts among couples and essential for imparting knowledge of how to deal with conflicts whenever they arise.