Innovations in marriage education: Introduction and challenges

Abstract

Professional and public interest in marriage is high today. Marriage education is said to have its own movement (Brotherson & Duncan, 2004) whose puipose is to strengthen marriage as a fundamental institution in our country. This movement is evident in the hundreds of community marriage initiatives that are developing in a variety of states (Birch, Weed, & Olsen, 2004; Doherty & Anderson, 2004), with the intention of strengthening marriage and lowering the divorce rate. Other evidence of a movement is the national conference called Smart Marriages, held yearly since 1995 with increasing attendance each year from religious and lay leaders, educators, government officials, researchers, program developers, and the general public. In fact, the term marriage education now is used regularly by members of the Coalition for Marriage, Family and Couples Education (CMFCE, sponsor of the Smart Marriages conference) and others (Doherty & Anderson). Government and private funding for marriage education programs and evaluation studies has increased (Brotherson & Duncan), and the need for such support is recognized more highly now. This recognition has included professional organizations as well. For example, in 2003, the National Council on Family Relations held its annual conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, with the theme of the future of marriage. Cumulatively, these events inspired this special collection on Innovations in Marriage Education. Because much has happened in the field of marriage education in the last 10 years, the purpose of this special issue is to bring some order and awareness to this rapidly developing field. What Is Marriage Education? For our purpose here, marriage education is defined broadly as including both skills-based group programs for the prevention and remediation of marital distress and marital support groups normally labeled as marriage enrichment. Obviously, these two approaches overlap. Marriage enrichment groups often incorporate skills-based activities that are found in marriage education (DeMaria, 2003). Marriage education, though usually skills based, often includes group activities and support common to marriage enrichment groups. Finally, because research usually has made no distinction between education and enrichment, we included papers from both areas. Whether called education or enrichment, it can be conceptualized metaphorically as upstream (D. Sollee, personal communication, June 15, 2003). This refers to working with couples before problems become too serious and entrenched and focuses on an educational and preventive rather than a remedial approach to helping couples. Why Marriage Education Is Important Mental health professionals are faced with an enormous challenge in reaching the many couples who need marital therapy. Unfortunately, most couples with marriage problems never seek therapy. Between 80% and 90% of divorcing couples report that they have not consulted with a therapist for their marital problems (Halford, Markman, Kline, & Stanley, 2003). In addition, there are several other limitations of couple's therapy. In general, only about two thirds of couples report improvements in their marital satisfaction as a result of therapy (Johnson, 2002), and a substantial number of couples who successfully complete marital therapy do not attain the levels of satisfaction reported by nondistressed couples (Van Widenfelt, Markman, Guerney, Behrens, & Hosman, 1997). Finally, relapse after treatment is quite common (Jacobson, Schmaling, & Holtzworth-Munroe, 1987). These limitations of marital therapy suggest that additional approaches to helping couples avoid or overcome marital distress must be used to augment therapists' work. Further, there are several good reasons to promote marriage education before couples become distressed. First, it is probably easier for couples with no or mild distress to enhance their marriage than it is for couples who have severe relationship problems to alter entrenched negative patterns and feelings (Van Widenfelt et al. …