ADVERSE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES, NEGATIVE COGNITION AND MARITAL QUALITY AMONG MARRIED EMPLOYEES IN THE UNIVERSITY OF UYO, NIGERIA

Lately, the incidence of low marital quality among married employees has become a significant concern due to its impact on behaviour, performance and psychological wellbeing in the workplace. This study therefore examined adverse childhood experiences and negative cognition as factors influencing marital quality among married employees in the University of Uyo. Two hundred and thirty-four (234) married non-teaching staff comprising 103 males (44.0%) and 131 females (56%) participated in the study. The ages of participants ranged between 28 to 65 years, and their mean age was 46.5 years. Participants were drawn using a convenience sampling technique. The design of the study was a cross-sectional survey design, and a 2-Way Analysis of variance was employed for data analysis. Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire, Negative Cognition Questionnaire, and the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale were the instruments used in the study. The result of the study revealed that adverse childhood experiences had no significant influence on marital quality. The result of the study also revealed that negative cognition had a significant influence on marital quality (F (1, 230) = 29.71, p < .01). Furthermore, there was no interaction effect of adverse childhood experiences and negative cognition on marital quality. It was therefore concluded that negative cognition is a factor influencing marital quality. It was recommended that interventions such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) be introduced to restructure maladaptive thoughts that lead to negative cognitions.