THE LONG TERM EFFECTS OF PREMARITAL INTERVENTION

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The literatures on behavioral approaches to marital distress and behavioral marital therapy are summarized in terms of implications for understanding and preventing marital distress. Evidence is presented that communication and exchange deficits may be etiologically related to the development of marital distress. There are two major objectives of this proposal. First, to conduct a longitudinal study of couples planning marriage in order to increase our understanding of the role of communication factors in the development of marital problems and to test the hypothesis that dysfunctional communication patterns precede the development of marital distress. Second, to develop and evaluate the long term (preventive) effects, of a behavioral premarital intervention program designed to enhance communication and problem-solving skills, on the couples future relationship satisfaction and communication patterns. Thus, the proposed design calls for an intervention and no treatment control group. The couples' relationship satisfaction, problem intensity and communication patterns will be assessed at five points in time over an initial three year period in order to achieve the two objectives. An independent replication of Study 1, with a different cohort of couples is also proposed. In sum, while most researchers, professionals, and lay people agree that communication is the key factor in developing and maintaining a successful marital relationship, virtually no longitudinal research has been conducted examining the role of communication factors in the development of distressed and nondistressed relationships. The proposed study will not only increase our understanding of the dynamics of marital distress, but will provide the first well-controlled long term evaluation of a premarital prevention program.