Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy; A Strategy for Managing Emotional Instability of Married Postgraduate Students

This research departs from the direct problems faced by married graduate students in Kwara State: high academic burden, household financial pressure, rigid socio-cultural norms, and miscommunication with spouses that trigger repeated conflicts, decreased marital satisfaction, and disrupted academic performance. The general objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness of culturally adapted Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) to stabilize emotions, improve communication, and improve the quality of relationships and support for academic performance. The methods used were quasi-experimental-mixed-methods pretest-posttest design with a control group (waitlist); The REBT intervention lasted 6–8 sessions (60–75 minutes) for 8–10 weeks with short daily home practice. Data are collected through emotion regulation scales (e.g. DERS/ERQ), marital satisfaction (e.g. CSI-16/DAS-7), behavioral records (frequency/duration of conflict, emotional recovery time), sleep quality index, home practice logs, ABC worksheets, and semi-structured interviews; analysis using ANOVA/ANCOVA repeated measurements with effect size and qualitative thematic analysis for triangulation. The results showed that the REBT group experienced a significant increase in emotion regulation and marital satisfaction, as well as a decrease in the intensity/persistence of negative emotions and the frequency of conflict, with some effects lasting at 1–3 months follow-up. The implication is that REBT deserves to be integrated into campus counseling services through a stepped care model, facilitator training and fidelity checklist, adaptation of polite communication scripts and financial check-ins, and partnerships with scholarship/finance units; follow-up research is recommended in the form of multisite RCTs with long-term follow-up, cost-effectiveness evaluation, and development of digital-based blended/low-intensity versions for scalability.