Relationship between Access to Digital Technologies and Marital Communication among Married Individuals in Selected House of Power Churches in Embakasi Central, Nairobi City County, Kenya

Digital technologies are a defining feature of social life throughout the world, with implications on human interaction and relationship communication. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between digital technologies and marital communication among married individuals in selected House of Power Churches in Embakasi Central Sub-County, Nairobi City County, Kenya. The study adopted cross-sectional research design. The target population was 800 married individuals from selected House of Power Churches in Embakasi Central Sub-County. Stratified sampling method was used to collect data from a sample size of 260 married individuals. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 27 was used to undertake cross-tabulation analysis, chi-square tests, percentage distributions, and mean and standard deviation scores. Descriptive analysis revealed that majority (66.1%) of the respondents had high access to digital technologies while 18.3% had moderate access and only 15.6% had low access. In terms of communication effectiveness, 73.5% recorded poor marital communication while 26.5% of the respondents had effective marital communication. Cross-tabulation analysis showed that poor marital communication was most prevalent among respondents with high access to digital technologies. Ch-square test showed a statistically significant association between access to digital technologies and marital communication, χ² (2) = 13.905, p<.05. A conclusion was drawn that high access to digital technology is linked to elevated communication problems among married individuals. The study recommends that people in marital relationships should intentionally regulate their access of digital technology to safeguard marital communication. Marriage and family therapists should integrate digital technology assessment into their routine couple therapy.

Digital Technologies, Access, Marital Communication

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