Introduction
The purpose of the research was to explore the relationship between marital expectations and marital satisfaction between African immigrant married couples and United States born married couples. The researcher, as a sub-Saharan African, was motivated to study the
differences in marital expectations and marital satisfaction between the two groups to understand the marital challenges faced by both groups in this country. The researcher was also motivated to find out how marital expectations alter based on changes in life experiences as African
immigrant married participants moved from their countries of origin to the Unites States.
Understanding of the challenges faced by each group would enable counselors to provide useful interventions in their work with couples. In view of the changing demographics in this country, and in line with CACREP standards (2009) and American Counseling Association Code of Ethics (2005), it is crucial that counselors, counselor educators and counseling students be competent in multicultural competences. Additionally, the region could benefit from greater understanding of marital and family issues. Findings from this study will contribute to the knowledge base on multicultural skills.
The goal of the study was to investigate the relationships that exist among marital
expectations and marital satisfaction, for African immigrant and U. S. born married couples. The researcher formulated three questions for investigating relationships. The first question inquired about the relationship between marital expectations and marital satisfaction between African immigrant and U. S. born married participants, using the Marital Expectations Questionnaire (MEQ) and Relationship Assessment Scale (RAS), and the Relationship Pleasure Scale (RPS). The second research question inquired about the existence of differences among marital
expectations and marital satisfaction between African immigrant and U. S. born married participants. The MEQ measured marital expectations, while the RAS and RPS measured satisfaction. Regression analyses and MANOVA were conducted to explore the variables of interest for the African immigrant married participants and the United States born married participants.
Mixed methods cross-sectional research design was used. The quantitative section investigated the relationship between marital expectations and marital satisfaction between African immigrant and U. S. born married participants. The researcher used SPSS program version 17 to run MANOVA to see if there were differences in marital expectations and marital satisfaction between the two groups. The researcher also used the SPSS program to conduct linear regressions to see if there were relationships between marital expectations and marital satisfaction among the African immigrants and the U. S. born married participants. The MEQ measured marital expectations, and the Relationship Assessment Scale (RAS) and Relationship Pleasure Scale (RPS) measured marital satisfaction. The first section of the MEQ constituted the qualitative method. Four open-ended questions in section I of the MEQ were used to collect data for analysis. Only responses to the first question answered research question two. Research question two inquired about the qualitative similarities and differences in marital expectations between African immigrant and U. S. born married couples. The first question in section one of the MEQ asked: What are the expectations you have of a marriage partner? The answers to this question were entered into the Atlas Ti software program and analyzed to identify codes, themes and patterns. Similarities and differences were identified among couples, and also between African immigrant married couples and U. S. born married couples.
Results of Data Analysis
Two hundred participants contributed to the data for this study. During the preliminary analysis, the researcher identified and removed outliers for data from United States born married participants using SPSS.
Testing for Research Questions
Research Question I
The first research question asked: What relationships exist between marital expectations and marital satisfaction for the United States born and African immigrant participants? To answer this question, this study examined two null hypotheses.
Hypothesis 1A
No relationship exists between marital expectations (measured by the Marital
Expectations Questionnaire), the independent variable, and marital satisfaction (measured by the Relationship Assessment Scale and the Relationship Pleasure Scale), the dependent variables, for United States born married participants.
A preliminary analysis was conducted with the data and two outliers with dB >3, which exerted excessive influence on the findings, were identified and removed. No missing data was found. Additionally, no violation of the assumptions of normality, linearity and homoscedasticity existed. Table 3 presented the means and standard deviations and Table 4 presented the bivariate correlations both for the variables of interest for United States born married participants.
Table 3: Means and Standard Deviations for U. S. Born Participants
Descriptive Statistics for U. S. Born Married Participants
Mean Standard Deviation N
MEQ Total 41.084 4.679 154
RAS Total 29.43 4.666 152
RPS Total 75.347 16.99 147
Results for the linear regression analysis showed that there was no relationship between marital expectations and marital satisfaction, measured by the RAS, for the U. S. born
participants [F (1, 149) = 3.23, p= .074].
Results for the linear regression analysis showed that there was no relationship between marital expectations and marital satisfaction, measured by the RPS, for the U. S. born participants [F (1, 144) = 2.408, p = .123].
Table 4: Correlation Table for U.S. born Participants
MEQ Total RAS Total RPS Total MEQ Total Pearson
Correlation
1.000 .146 .128
Sig. (2-tailed) .074 .123
N 154 151 146
RAS Total Pearson Correlation .146 1.000 .749** Sig. (2-tailed) .074 .000 N 151 152 146 RPS Total Pearson Correlation .128 .749** 1.000 Sig. (2-tailed) .123 .000 N 146 146 147
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Hypothesis 1B
No relationship exists between marital expectations (measured by the Marital
Expectations Questionnaire), the independent variable, and marital satisfaction (measured by the Relationship Assessment Scale and Relationship Pleasure Scale), the dependent variables, for African immigrant married participants. Preliminary analysis did not reveal any outliers or
missing data. Table 5 presented the bivariate correlations, and Table 6 presented the means and standard deviations for the variables of interest.
Results of Hypothesis 1B
Results for the linear regression analysis showed that there was a significant relationship between marital expectations (measured by the Marital Expectations Questionnaire) and marital satisfaction, measured by the Relationship Assessment Scale, for the African immigrant
participants [F (1, 39) = 4.551, p = .039].
Results for the linear regression analysis showed that there was no relationship between marital expectations (measured by the Marital Expectations Questionnaire) and marital satisfaction, measured by the Relationship Pleasure Scale, for the African immigrant participants [F (1, 39) = 2.361, p = .132].
Table 5: Correlations for MEQ and RPS for U. S. Born Married Participants
RPS Total MEQ Total
RPS Total Pearson Correlation 1.000 .128
MEQ Total Pearson Correlation .128 1.000
RPS Total Sig. (1-tailed) .061
MEQ Total Sig. (1-tailed) .061
RPS Total N 146 146
MEQ Total N 146 146
Table 6: Descriptive Statistics for African Immigrant Participants
Mean Standard Deviation N
MEQ Total 43.209 3.991 43
RAS Total 28.15 4.897 41
Table 7: Correlations for African Immigrant Married Participants
MEQ Total RAS_TOTAL RPS Total
MEQ Total Pearson
Correlation
1.000 .323* .239
Sig. (2-tailed) .039 .132
N 43 41 41
RAS Total Pearson
Correlation .323* 1.000 .769** Sig. (2-tailed) .039 .000 N 41 41 40 RPS Total Pearson Correlation .239 .769** 1.000 Sig. (2-tailed) .132 .000 N 41 40 41
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).