Perceived Societal Expectations and Marital Adjustment among Married Tertiary-Institution Staff in Delta State, Nigeria: Preliminary Psychometric Evidence

Abstract

This cross-sectional study explored the internal structure and internal consistency of the Societal Expectations Rating Scale (SERS) and its association with self-reported marital adjustment among 787 married employees of government-owned tertiary institutions in Delta State, Nigeria. The questionnaire comprised 16 SERS items and 16 Marital Adjustment Rating Scale (MARS) items, each scored on four response categories. Principal axis factoring with Promax rotation was reported for the SERS; the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin index was .790, and Bartlett’s test was significant, χ²(120) = 3146.353, p < .001. A three-factor solution was described, with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of .767 for the full SERS and .790, .733 and .639 for its dimensions. The averages of the 16 item means were 2.91 for SERS and 2.60 for MARS on the 1–4 item metric. The variables were weakly and positively associated (r = .224, R² = .050; F[1, 785] = 41.496, p < .001). Although the reported regression is arithmetically consistent with 16-item summed scores, full psychometric evidence for SERS and reliability evidence for MARS are lacking. The findings offer preliminary measurement evidence and a modest, unadjusted association, not evidence of causal influence.