ABSTRACT

The study examined the types, prevalence and causes of domestic violence among selected couples in Mushin Local Government Area Of Lagos State. The study reviewed related literatures under some sub-headings. The descriptive research survey was used for the assessment of the opinions of the respondents, with the use of both the research questionnaire and the sampling technique. A total of 100 respondents were sampled. Four null hypotheses were formulated and tested using the ANOVA for hypothesis 1 and 2 and Pearson product moment correlation statistical tool for hypotheses 3 and 4 at 0.05 level of significance. At the end of the analyses, the following findings were obtained:

(1)         that a relationship exists between the years of marriage and couples’ domestic violence in the community,

(2)         that religion will significantly play an important role in the incidence of couple marital violence in the family,

(3)         that there is a significant relationship between domestic violence and newly wedded couples in the family and

(4)         that there is a significant relationship between domestic violence and old married couples in the study.

Based on the conclusions of this study, the following recommendations were made thus:Government should increase public awareness on domestic violence, by sensitizing individuals on their rights and laws guiding these rights. Also, social workers should ensure that victims of domestic violence and their children are safe-guided through a programme tagged “Save the children” programme, in which the children’s conditions in marriages rocked by domestic violence are taken care of.