Abstract

This study was carried out in Ong’ata Rongai Town of Kajiado County, Kenya. The feelings and perceptions of young spouses aged 20-40 years were investigated, regarding their interpersonal communication with their parents and peers and its influence on couple sexual intimacy. Twenty young couples were purposefully selected from young couples, living in four purposefully selected housing clusters within Ong’ata Rongai Town. Qualitative data were collected using observation, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and key informant interviews. The qualitative data were analysed using word tables and coded manually into themes, subthemes and narrative explanations. The results revealed that values, utterances and attitudes of the spouses’ families and peer group, influenced the way the spouses related and communicated about sexual intimacy in marriage. The study found that parents still exercised some influence on their married children and that some of their utterances, demands and behaviour sometimes had a negative influence on the couple’s communication on sexual intimacy. Since most young couples were brought up in the urban areas, the urban and youth sub-cultures, offered young spouses a lifestyle and outlook that was more compatible with their perception and expression of sexual intimacy, including negotiation of sexual health needs. It was evident that the young spouses found it difficult to comply with many aspects of the traditional sexual ethos of the parents’ culture with regard to communication of sexual intimacy. 

Key Words: Interpersonal Communication, Spousal Communication, Sexual Intimacy, Peer Influence, Family Influence.

*    Macharia Kiruhi, Ph.D., is a lecturer in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya

**  Wambui Kiai, Ph.D., is a Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya.

© ^AMCRON Journal of Communication and Media Research, Vol. 11, No. 1, April 2019, pp. 118 – 129