RELATIONSHIP DYNAMICS AND EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING OF COMMUTING COUPLES IN UYO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA
Keywords:
Commuting couples, Communication, Emotional well-being, TrustAbstract
The purpose of the study was to determine the influence of relationship dynamics on the emotional well-being of commuting couples in Uyo Local Government Area. Two specific objectives, two research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The target population for this study comprised of married couples residing in Uyo Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The sample size of 80 commuting couples was selected using a combination of snowball and purposive sampling techniques. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire titled “Relationship Dynamics and Emotional Wellbeing of Commuting Couples Questionnaire (RDEWCCQ)”. The instrument was subjected to face validation by three experts from University of Uyo. The reliability coefficient of the instrument 0.86 was achieved using inter-item reliability method computed using Cronbach Alpha statistics. The data collected for the study was analyzed using simple linear regression analysis to answer the research questions and test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of probability to determine the acceptance or rejection of the null hypothesis. Findings revealed that communication pattern and trust contributed 34.6% and 66.3% respectively on variations in emotional well-being of commuting couples thus, communication pattern and trust highly influence well-being of commuting couples in Uyo Local Government Area. It was also found that there was a positive and significant influence of communication pattern and trust on the emotional well-being of commuting couples in the study area. It was recommended among others that commuting couples should adopt flexible work arrangements, remote work options, and access to counseling services as coping measures for promoting emotional stability of partners in commuting relationships.
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