HUMOUR, SPIRITUALITY AND EMOTIONAL INTIMACY AS CORRELATES OF MARITAL SATISFACTION AMONG COUPLES IN AWKA, ANAMBRA STATE

The study examined how humour, spirituality, and emotional intimacy relate to marital satisfaction among couples in Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria. A total of 223 couples took part in the research, chosen through a mix of purposive and incidental sampling methods. Among the participants, there were 123 males (55.2%) and 100 females (44.8%), with ages ranging from 18 to 65 years (M = 36.3, SD = 7.10). The research utilized four main tools: The Humour Inventory by De Koning and Weiss (2002), the Spirituality Questionnaire by JochenHardt (2007), the Index of Marital Satisfaction Scale by Walter W. Hudson (1974), and the Emotional Intimacy Scale by Euckie (2022). A correlational research design was used, and Pearson product moment correlation analysis was conducted to test the hypotheses. The results showed that humour had a significant positive correlation with marital satisfaction (r = 0.460, p < 0.05), while spirituality had a significant negative correlation (r = -0.419, p < 0.05). Additionally, emotional intimacy was positively correlated with marital satisfaction (r = 0.575, p < 0.05). The study highlighted that humour and emotional intimacy are crucial for enhancing marital satisfaction, whereas spirituality seems to have a negative impact. It was recommended that religious and community organizations should include training on humour, emotional intimacy, and conflict resolution in premarital counselling to help couples develop essential relationship skills.