Beyond the Couple Dyad: A GAP-MCT Conceptualisation of Extended-Family Influence, Cultural Meaning, And Marital Conflict in African Contexts
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65150/EP-jsshrs/V2E10/2026-01Keywords:
contextual relational field, kinship systems, networked escalation, relational gaps, threat appraisalAbstract
Purpose: This conceptual article extends GAP Marriage Counselling Theory (GAP-MCT) to explain how extended-family and wider contextual systems may support marriage, generate relational discrepancies, or intensify conflict in African contexts.
Approach: We integrate scholarship on African marital relationships, kinship, cultural psychology, and systemic family therapy with the core constructs of GAP-MCT.
Analysis: Extended-family influence becomes clinically significant when spouses assign different meanings to obligation, authority, privacy, loyalty, care, and belonging. These discrepancies may be appraised as threats to identity, attachment, status, fairness, or family membership, prompting protective responses and recursive escalation within the couple and across the wider family network. The article introduces the contextual relational field, distinguishes supportive involvement from intrusive or coercive involvement, and advances six propositions for research and practice.
Implications: GAP-MCT provides a culturally responsive way to retain the couple as an important relational unit without isolating it from its social systems. The framework also guards against romanticising communalism or using culture to excuse gender inequality, coercive control, or violence.
References
1) Adams, G. (2005). The cultural grounding of personal relationship: Enemyship in North American and West African worlds. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88(6), 948–968. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.88.6.948
2) Adams, G., & Plaut, V. C. (2003). The cultural grounding of personal relationship: Friendship in North American and West African worlds. Personal Relationships, 10(3), 333–347. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6811.00053
3) Asiimwe, R., Lesch, E., Karume, M., & Blow, A. J. (2021). Expanding our international reach: Trends in the development of systemic family therapy training and implementation in Africa. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 47(4), 815–830. https://doi.org/10.1111/jmft.12514
4) Asiimwe, R., McIntosh, D. L., Nyambura, R. G., & Kasujja, R. (2026). Cultural threads: An Afrocentric paradigm for integrating social justice principles in the practice of family therapy in Africa. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 52(1), e70091. https://doi.org/10.1111/jmft.70091
5) Bakker, T. M., & Snyders, F. J. A. (1999). The (hi)stories we live by: Power/knowledge and family therapy in Africa. Contemporary Family Therapy, 21(2), 133–154. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021639324279
6) Bledsoe, C. H., & Pison, G. (Eds.). (1994). Nuptiality in sub-Saharan Africa: Contemporary anthropological and demographic perspectives. Clarendon Press.
7) Cole, J., & Thomas, L. M. (Eds.). (2009). Love in Africa. University of Chicago Press.
8) Gyan, C., & Ossom, B. L. (2026). Enduring traditions and emerging shifts: Exploring gender roles in Ghanaian marriages amidst modernization. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, jxaf069. https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxaf069
9) Gyekye, K. (1997). Tradition and modernity: Philosophical reflections on the African experience. Oxford University Press.
10) Januário, D., Narciso, I., Vieira-Santos, S., Fonseca, G., & Relvas, A. P. (2018). First journey by a descriptive review of empirical research on African marital relationships—Scientific dissemination, thematic focus, and methodology. Marriage & Family Review, 54(3), 259–281. https://doi.org/10.1080/01494929.2017.1403996
11) Januário, D., Narciso, I., Vieira-Santos, S., & Relvas, A. P. (2021). Second journey through a descriptive review of research on African marital relationships—Empirical findings. Marriage & Family Review, 57(8), 700–720. https://doi.org/10.1080/01494929.2021.1887988
12) Malm, E. K., Oti-Boadi, M., Adom-Boakye, N. A., & Andah, A. (2023). Marital satisfaction and dissatisfaction among Ghanaians. Journal of Family Issues, 44(11), 3117–3141. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X221126752
13) Nsamenang, A. B. (2006). Human ontogenesis: An indigenous African view on development and intelligence. International Journal of Psychology, 41(4), 293–297. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207590544000077
14) Oppong Asante, K., Osafo, J., & Nyamekye, G. (2014). An exploratory study of factors contributing to divorce among married couples in Accra, Ghana: A qualitative approach. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 55(1), 16–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/10502556.2013.837715
15) Osafo, J., Oppong Asante, K., Ampomah, C. A., & Osei-Tutu, A. (2021). Factors contributing to divorce in Ghana: An exploratory analysis of evidence from court suits. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 62(4), 312–326. https://doi.org/10.1080/10502556.2021.1871839
16) Sedziafa, A. P., Tenkorang, E. Y., & Owusu, A. Y. (2019). Can marriage (re)produce and legitimize sexual violence? A phenomenological study of a Ghanaian patrilineal society. Women’s Studies International Forum, 77, 102296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2019.102296
17) St. Vil, N. M., McDonald, K. B., & Cross-Barnet, C. (2018). A qualitative study of Black married couples’ relationships with their extended family networks. Families in Society, 99(1), 56–66. https://doi.org/10.1177/1044389418756847
18) Stiles-Ocran, E. (2021). Women’s stolen voices in marriage in Ghana: The role of the church in addressing intimate partner violence. Diaconia, 12(2), 179–198. https://doi.org/10.13109/diac.2021.12.2.179
19) Therborn, G. (2004). Between sex and power: Family in the world, 1900–2000. Routledge.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Dr. Christian Matthew Adetunji (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
