Abstract
Meta-analytic research on the effect of marriage and relationship education (MRE) over the past forty years has identified only a small overall effect size on relationship quality measures within experimental-design studies. In an effort to increase the effect size of marriage education, this study introduced a new educational objective and measure within an eight-session, group-format course. The curriculum focused on developing habits to increase feelings of romantic love as a way to improve marital adjustment (Four Gifts of Love Class, FGL). Eleven couples (N = 22) residing in the Philippines were randomly assigned to FGL (G1) or delayed FGL-control (G2). The results demonstrated a large effect size on measures of marital adjustment (d = 1.11, p < .01) and romantic love (d = 0.68, p < .05). In addition, after G2 completed FGL, their gains matched the gains of G1, and the gains were sustained at the three follow-up periods.
Highlights
Marriage, a life-impacting human relationship; introduction to the Four Gifts of Love 2
In an attempt to expand on what we already know about effective marriage and relationship education (MRE) components and take the advice of Hawkins et al (2012) to experiment with components not typically seen in the MRE programs currently researched, this study evaluated the effects of a marriage curriculum designed to sustain romantic love
Treatment effects were evaluated by the following calculations: 1) d effect size; and 2) t-test for independent samples to compare pre-posttest change scores at T2 (G1—Four Gifts of Love Class (FGL), Group 2 (G2)—control) and T3 (G1/G2—FGL)
Summary
A life-impacting human relationship; introduction to the Four Gifts of Love 2. Effects of giving and receiving the gifts of care, protection, honesty and time in marriage; the Love Bank; the Ten. Most Important Emotional Needs in Marriage 3. Giving and receiving the gift of care; identifying the most important emotional needs; importance of listening and thoughtfully responding 4. Sharing emotional needs and starting a plan to meet them for each other 5. Giving and receiving the gift of protection; identifying and eliminating Love Busters 6.
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