Abstract
Globalization and the rapid change it brings to societies have impacted on the marriage institution as much as it does to other institutions. One of the most evident and pervasive changes has been the rising trend in marital instability and/or divorce. Its growing impact is quite alarming in Nigeria. The study investigated the relationship between infidelity and marital instability in Aba urban; examined the relationship between socio-economic status and marital instability in Aba urban; found out the relationship between sodomy and empty shell marriage in Aba urban; and examined the relationship between physical abuse and marital instability in Aba urban. The population of the study was all young couple living in Aba Urban at the period of this study. Since there was no existing record of the population of young couples in Aba Urban at the period of the study, the purposive and convenience sampling methods were adopted in selecting participants for this study. 362 respondents (331 for questionnaire distribution and 31 for the FGD sessions) were selected. The study adopted descriptive and thematic methods in analyzing the data collected through the questionnaire and the FGD sessions. The findings of the study confirmed that infidelity, Sodomy, physical abuse and socio-economic status are all leading causes of marital instability. Recommendations include improvement on the nation’s economy to boost per-capita income, improve household income and consequently enhance standard of living; a restructuring of the marriage contracting processes by contracting institutions in order to help the would-be partners appreciate the expectations of each other before the marriage is contracted; customary laws on marriage should be reviewed to empower and protect the women to express themselves when cultural expectations on marriage are infringing on their human rights.