The problem of this study was the negative or positive effects of a partially structured Christian marriage enrichment weekend upon marital communication, marital adjustment, and purpose in life. The results indicated that on all four tests both groups improved significantly over a two-month period but not over a one-week period. The general conclusions to be drawn are two-fold. First, a partially structured Christian marriage enrichment weekend, namely Enjoying Marriage, will probably help a couple improve in communication, adjustment, and purpose in life. Second, only on adjustment and purpose in life can one say that such improvement is based specifically upon the content of the weekend. The reason for this is that a weekend retreat group who received no treatment on marriage also improved in communication and on one specific type of marital adjustment as measured by the Polyfactor Sentence Completion Survey.

M.A. (Socialis Scientiae) / The aim of social services in the SAPS is to achieve, maintain and promote optimum social functioning in order to improve the productivity of members of the SAPS. As a result of -their unique working conditions which are often characterized by a great deal of stress and frustration, statistics regarding marital problems in the SAPS are high compared to other social problems. This study was undertaken to design a marriage programme to be utilized by social workers and social coworkers in the SAPS, and to evaluate its utilisation value during trial use and developmental testing by submitting the programme to the social workers and social coworkers. The research purpose of the study was to develop and evaluate a social work programme. Development research as put forward in Edwin Thomas's model (1978, 1979, 1980, 1984) was used as research design. In order to evaluate this development objective, the following development targets for research were set: To obtain information about the influence of the work of SAPS members on their marriages. To identify additional contributory causes of marital problems. To study literature on marriage counselling. To design a programme for marriage counselling in the SAPS within the structure of a developmental research more. To evaluate the utilization value of the programme by submitting it during trial use and developmental testing to social workers and social coworkers in the SAPS .

Satisfaction (fulfillment of one’s wishes, expectations and needs or the pleasure derived from this) has been shown by studies to be manifested through various things, including marriage. It has been found that marriage and the satisfaction experienced are positively correlated to higher levels of happiness. Marital satisfaction (also referred to as marital quality and marital happiness) is defined as one's subjective evaluation of favourability towards one’s spouse and the marital relationship and the mental state of perceived gains and losses of the marriage. Research shows that the factors that affect marital satisfaction vary across cultures as well as geographic space within cultures, as well as gender. The present case study explored marital satisfaction as experienced by a Xhosa woman who resides in a rural setting in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. This qualitative exploratory-descriptive study utilised an in-depth case study method and the subject was selected by purposive sampling. Thibaut and Kelley’s (1959) Interdependence Theory, in conjunction the life-cycle stages of marriage as proposed by Markey (2005), were used as a framework to understand dynamics that occur in the course of a marital relationship as well as the variations in satisfaction in the different stages of marriage. Data was obtained through semi-structured interviews and a content analysis approach proposed by Miles and Huberman (1994) was followed as a framework for data analysis. The findings of the present study are presented according to two broad groupings: 1) marital satisfaction arises from one’s state of mind, and 2) the participant provided lessons on dealing with issues that arise in marriage. These in turn permitted the identification of sub-themes connected to each main theme allowing recommendations for future research to be deduced.

This study examined the effects of premarital counseling on newlywed communication. It was predicted that individuals who had participated in premarital counseling would have lower levels of demand/withdrawal communication and higher levels of spousal support. The effects of the format of the counseling were also examined. Individuals who had been married less than two years completed a survey measuring their marital satisfaction, levels of demand/withdraw, and perceived spousal support. Social learning theory was used as a theoretical lens. Results suggested that participating in premarital counseling has no affect on newlywed communication. Newlyweds who had been exposed to a group format during their counseling had higher marital satisfaction than those who had just participated in a one-on-one format with a counselor.

This study compared the effects of three treatment approaches to training married couples in communication skills on the dependent variables of marital communication, marital adjustment, and the personality characteristics of extraversion/introversion and stability/instability. The initial focus of the study was to determine whether any of the treatment programs--a highly structured (T3), a partially structured (T1 ) or a non-structured (T 2) program -- were superior to any other or to the control group in affecting change in the participants level of communication or in their marital or personal adjustment. The structured programs were derived from the human relations training programs of Carkhuff as well as Rappaport and Harrell's Behavior Exchange Model of conjoint marriage counseling, and adapted for use in a short-term group training procedure. The unstructured training utilized the client-centered approach to couple counseling as developed by Rogers. The number of activities and amount of time spent on each exercise was more rigidly set in the highly structured training than in the partially structured approach. The twenty-four training programs were conducted by two doctoral students in counseling over a seven-week period. A pretest/ post-test, control group experimental design was employed in the research; the data were analyzed using the analysis of covariance statistic, with pre-test scores as the covariate. It was concluded that, although the present study did not produce evidence for the efficacy of one treatment modality over another, some support for the efficacy of the newly designed treatment T2 was provided with suggestions for further research. Recommendations include the matching of couples on age, level of education, and length of marriage when treatments are being compared. Other suggestions include the consideration, in short-term marriage counseling, of pre-therapy selection variables such as level of motivation for change, preparation for the group experience, level of maladjustment, and length of marriage.

The effectiveness of contingency contracting for treating marital distress was tested using a within couple multiple baseline design across responses. Two distressed couples participated. Both couples experienced marginal improvements as measured by a spouse-tracking procedure, One couple demonstrated gains in self-reported satisfaction. The findings for a third dependent variable are inconclusive for both couples. Suggestions for further research are discussed.

This report describes a consumer evaluation study of the Clackamas County Family Court Service, a court-connected marriage and divorce counseling agency near Portland, Oregon. A questionnaire was mailed to 168 individuals who had participated in counseling at the agency between November 1, 1976, and November 1, 1977. The questionnaire focused on former clients' perspectives on agency helpfulness, satisfaction with counselor’s assistance, accomplishment of agency identified objectives for counsel1ng, and suggested areas for program improvement.

A fundamental purpose of this study was to provide marriage preparation providers with counselors perceptions of potential marital problem areas. A structured questionnaire was sent to LDS counselors, defined as members of the Association of Mormon Counselors and Psychotherapists (AMCAP). These LDS counselors rated 29 problem areas that LDS couples, (members members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), might encounter in a first marriage or remarriage. Results (N=231) were analyzed in an attempt to determine the most frequent, most damaging and most difficult problems to deal with in LDS first marriages and remarriages.Findings suggest that "communication", "sex", "unrealistic expectations of marriage or spouse", "money management" and "power struggles" were all identified as most frequent and most damaging problems/complaints first time LDS marriages might encounter. Problems with "previous marriage", "serious individual problems", "children", "power struggles", "unrealistic expectations of marriage or spouse", "communication" and "money management/finances" were identified as most frequent and damaging to LDS remarital couples.For both LDS first marriages and remarriages, problems with "power struggles" were identified as frequent and damaging, however, this topic is not commonly addressed in marriage preparation programs. These findings suggest that issues of power should be included as an area of focus in marriage preparation programs.

The effectiveness of an adventure-based marriage enrichment program in increasing marital intimacy was studied. Thirty seven married couples from a relatively conservative Protestant religion composed the sample. The sample was composed of volunteer participants ranging in age from 21-47. The participants were randomly assigned to two treatment groups and a control group. The Waring Intimacy Questionnaire, a participants' Self-Rating of Intimacy Scale, a participants' Intimacy Change Scale, and an open-ended questionnaire were used to collect data. Analysis of Covariance was use to determine differences in post-test scores using the pre-test as the covariate. The findings showed statistical significance for group post-test scores on the WIQ Total Intimacy Scores, E (2,70)= 3.96, p < .05. Significance was shown for group post-test scores on the WIQ cohesiveness subscale, F (2,70) = 8.71, p < .001. / Ph. D.

The study was designed to measure the effects of a humorous experience on the problem solving behavior of married couples. Twenty married couples were randomly assigned to either a treatment or non-treatment group. Treatment couples viewed a humorous videotape prior to completing Olson and Ryder's Inventory of Marital Conflict (IMC). All couples were videotaped during their discussions of the IMC case situations and the tapes were later coded using Olson and Ryder's Marital and Family Interaction Coding System (MFICS). Data from the MFICS and the Post Discussion Form of the IMC were used in the statistical analysis. Couples who watched the tape prior to problem solving reported significantly higher levels of satisfaction with their decisions than couples who did not experience humor. They also reported a significantly higher level of involvement in discussing case situations that were similar to their own experiences than did the non-treatment group. It was predicted that treatment couples would experience less conflict and laugh more than non-treatment couples. This did not happen. It was also expected that there would be an interaction between the level of conflict that couples exhibited with the treatment condition and that the interaction would affect amounts of satisfaction and laughter. This did not demonstrate significance. The findings suggest that married couples can benefit from the use of humor prior to problem solving. They appear to be more focused in their efforts and to experience higher levels of satisfaction with the results. / Ph. D.