The Moderating Role of Coping Strategies in The Relationship Between Marital Conflict and Depression Among Married Nurses

Abstract

The study investigated the moderating role of coping strategies in the relationship between marital conflict and depression among married nurses, eighty-seven (87) married nurses with a mean age of 31.20 and S.D of 6.32 were selected as participants with the aid of purposive sampling techniques from one federal and three private hospitals in Enugu state, Zung (1965) Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS), Omoluabi (1994) Marital stress inventory (MSI) and Carver et al. (1989) Brief-cope scale, a correlational design was adopted and moderated multiple hierarchy regression was used for data analysis, and findings revealed that problem focus dimension of coping strategies St?= .443*** and t= 4.522*** at p< .001 positively predicted depression among married nurses, emotional focus dimension of coping strategies St?= -.260** and t= -2.657** at p< .01 negatively predict depression. Marital conflict St?= - .288** and t= -2.945** at p< .01 negatively predicted depression among married nurses. Problem focus dimension of coping strategies St?= -1.410** and t= -2.767** at p< .01 negatively moderated the relationship between marital conflict and depression among married nurses, emotional focus dimension of coping strategies UnSt?= .605 and t= .928 at p< .05 failed to moderate the relationship between marital conflict and depression among married nurses. Hence, married nurses are advised to adopt emotional coping strategies, this will help them to address the day-to-day stress acquired

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