Marriage and counselling are based on social cohesion, values, behaviour and beliefs which
are strongly associated with socio-cultural factors. Socio-cultural factors may play a vital role
in explaining and understanding marital stability and counselling. In Siaya County, there are
socio-cultural factors that in many ways influence the behaviour of individuals and entire
communities. The purpose of this study was to establish the relationship between selected
socio-cultural factors, level of marital stability and seeking marital counselling among fishers
in Siaya County of Kenya. The socio-cultural factors were ethnic values and religious beliefs.
This study was guided by Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory. The study used a causal
comparative research design to investigate the outcomes of differences that already exist
among groups of individuals and how they affect their overall marital relationship and
counseling seeking behaviour. The target population comprised 10370 registered married
fishers, 75 beach leaders and 23 religious’ leaders in the main landing sites of Siaya County.
All the fishers formed accessible population. Using the Yamane formula, the sampled size
was arrived at as 99 married fishers. The sample size of fishers was determined as a
proportion of the total population and sample size determined by simple random sampling.
Purposive sampling technique was utilised to arrive at 8 beach leaders and 8 religious’
leaders. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected using interview schedule for married
fishers and interview guide for beach leaders and religious leaders. The validity of the
interview schedule was established by two counselling experts from Department of
Psychology, Counselling and Education Foundations of Egerton University. The reliability of
the interview schedule was established using Cronbach’s alpha following pilot study. The
value obtained was 0.85. Data were analysed using frequencies, percentages and correlation
analysis. The findings indicated that majority of the fishers had unsatisfied-stable marriages
which varied with age, length of marriage, type of marriage and parenting status. Most fishers
sought some form of marital counselling for serious problems which also varied according to
age, length of marriage, type of marriage and parenting status. There was a positive
relationship between religious beliefs and ethnic values with marital stability and a negative
relationship between religious beliefs and seeking marital counselling. The study
recommends counselling for fishers to improve marriages to satisfied-stable and the
professional counsellors within the reach of fishers to promote religious beliefs. Finally, the
religious organisations to come up with programmes and activities to provide marital
counselling.
Marriage and counselling are based on social cohesion, values, behaviour and beliefs which
are strongly associated with socio-cultural factors. Socio-cultural factors may play a vital role
in explaining and understanding marital stability and counselling. In Siaya County, there are
socio-cultural factors that in many ways influence the behaviour of individuals and entire
communities. The purpose of this study was to establish the relationship between selected
socio-cultural factors, level of marital stability and seeking marital counselling among fishers
in Siaya County of Kenya. The socio-cultural factors were ethnic values and religious beliefs.
This study was guided by Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory. The study used a causal
comparative research design to investigate the outcomes of differences that already exist
among groups of individuals and how they affect their overall marital relationship and
counseling seeking behaviour. The target population comprised 10370 registered married
fishers, 75 beach leaders and 23 religious’ leaders in the main landing sites of Siaya County.
All the fishers formed accessible population. Using the Yamane formula, the sampled size
was arrived at as 99 married fishers. The sample size of fishers was determined as a
proportion of the total population and sample size determined by simple random sampling.
Purposive sampling technique was utilised to arrive at 8 beach leaders and 8 religious’
leaders. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected using interview schedule for married
fishers and interview guide for beach leaders and religious leaders. The validity of the
interview schedule was established by two counselling experts from Department of
Psychology, Counselling and Education Foundations of Egerton University. The reliability of
the interview schedule was established using Cronbach’s alpha following pilot study. The
value obtained was 0.85. Data were analysed using frequencies, percentages and correlation
analysis. The findings indicated that majority of the fishers had unsatisfied-stable marriages
which varied with age, length of marriage, type of marriage and parenting status. Most fishers
sought some form of marital counselling for serious problems which also varied according to
age, length of marriage, type of marriage and parenting status. There was a positive
relationship between religious beliefs and ethnic values with marital stability and a negative
relationship between religious beliefs and seeking marital counselling. The study
recommends counselling for fishers to improve marriages to satisfied-stable and the
professional counsellors within the reach of fishers to promote religious beliefs. Finally, the
religious organisations to come up with programmes and activities to provide marital
counselling.
