Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Texas at Austin.
Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles.
J Fam Psychol. 2018 Mar;32(2):276-281. doi: 10.1037/fam0000383.
Despite evidence that empirically supported couple therapies improve marital relationships, relatively few couples seek help when they need it. Low-income couples are particularly unlikely to engage in relationship interventions despite being at greater risk for distress and dissolution than their higher-income counterparts. The present study aimed to clarify how premarital education influences couples' progression through different stages of later help-seeking, as identified in prior research. Using 5 waves of self-report data from a sample of 431 ethnically diverse newlywed couples living in low-income neighborhoods, analyses revealed that wives who received premarital education later considered seeking therapy at a higher level of relationship satisfaction and lower level of problem severity than those who did not receive premarital education, though this was not true for husbands. Wives who received premarital education were also more likely as newlyweds to say that they would seek therapy if their relationship was in trouble, though husbands were not. Spouses who considered seeking therapy were more likely to follow through with participation if they had received premarital education, whereas if they had not received premarital education they were more likely to consider seeking therapy without following through. Similarly, among couples who received therapy, those who also received premarital education sought therapy earlier than those who did not receive premarital education, though not at a higher level of relationship satisfaction. Taken together, these results suggest that participation in premarital education is linked with later help-seeking by empowering couples to take steps throughout their marriage to maintain their relationship. (PsycINFO Database Record
尽管有证据表明实证支持的夫妻治疗可以改善婚姻关系，但相对较少的夫妻在需要时寻求帮助。低收入夫妻尤其不太可能参与关系干预，尽管他们比高收入夫妻面临更大的困扰和离婚风险。本研究旨在阐明婚前教育如何影响夫妻在后期寻求帮助的不同阶段的进展，如先前研究中所确定的。使用来自居住在低收入社区的 431 对种族多样化新婚夫妇样本的 5 波自我报告数据进行分析，结果表明，与没有接受婚前教育的夫妇相比，接受婚后教育的妻子在关系满意度更高、问题严重程度更低的情况下更有可能考虑寻求治疗，而丈夫则不然。新婚时接受婚前教育的妻子也更有可能表示，如果他们的关系出现问题，他们会寻求治疗，而丈夫则不会。如果夫妻考虑寻求治疗，他们更有可能接受婚前教育并参与其中，而如果他们没有接受婚前教育，他们更有可能考虑寻求治疗而不参与其中。同样，在接受治疗的夫妇中，那些接受婚前教育的夫妇比那些没有接受婚前教育的夫妇更早地寻求治疗，尽管他们的关系满意度没有提高。总的来说，这些结果表明，参与婚前教育可以通过赋予夫妻在婚姻中采取措施来维持关系的能力，与后期寻求帮助相关。
