Abstract
Family instability has become one of the most prevalent and endemic social
challenges ravaging many families and communities in Nigeria. Since the
family is the bedrock on which every society is built, the question of
achieving national stability must first be addressed from the family unit
with special reference to conflicts in marriages. This study assessed the
factors influencing family instability among rural households in Iseyin
Local Government Area of Oyo State Nigeria. Multistage sampling
procedure was used in selecting a total of 120 respondents for the study.
Data were collected with questionnaire and analyzed using mens,
percentage and inferential statistics. Findings reveal that 56.7% of the
respondents had high favourable perception towards family instability.
Factors that were found to be influencing family instability in the study area
include: religion, family type (β=-0.139, p=0.045), household size (β=0.144,
p=0.045), perception towards family instability (β=0.188, p=0.020) and
educational background(β=0.554, p=0.000). The study concludes that family
instability has more serious consequences on polygamous family and this
may also affect their children’s education. The study recommends that
marital counseling clinics should be established by government, local and
religious leaders in major towns and communities to enable couples who
are experiencing unresolved conflicts to seek for professional assistance of
counselors.