This study investigated social factor as correlates of marital instability among married women in southwest, Nigeria. The study specifically determined the relationship between social factors (educational status, occupational status and income status) and marital instability among married women. The descriptive research design of the survey type was used in this study. The population consisted of all married women in Government Ministries and Departments in Southwest, Nigeria. The sample for this study consisted of 1,703 married women selected through multi stage sampling procedure. A self-developed questionnaire tagged Social Factors and Marital Instability Questionnaire (SFMIQ) was used to collect data for the study. The face and content validity of the instrument were determined by experts in Human Kinetics and Health Education. The reliability of the instrument was determined using Cronbach Alpha. A co-efficient value of 0.81 was obtained which was considered high enough to make the instrument reliable. The data collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. All the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that the level of marital instability among married women was moderate. It was further revealed that marital instability differs based on women’s occupational status and years of marital experience while women irrespective of their educational status and income status experienced same level of marital instability. It was recommended that health educators should get involved in mass campaign on issue regarding marital instability in southwest, Nigeria.

Keywords: Social Factors, Marital Instability, Married Women,

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