This study was designed to investigate the effect of a premarital counseling program on premarital couples. More specifically, this study investigated how the Premarital Assessment Program (PAP) and the PAP modified with structured communication components impacted premarital individuals dyadic adjustment, communication, and commitment to the continuance of the relationship. / The data were collected from a sample of 42 premarital individuals who were residing in the Tallahassee, Florida area. The subjects who participated in the six week premarital counseling program were a mix of college students and community residents. The three levels of treatment were the PAP group, the modified PAP with communication training, and the control group. The findings revealed a statistically significant difference on the variable dyadic adjustment (p =.0325) and commitment to the continuance of the relationship (p =.0457). Further analysis of the significant differences on dyadic adjustment and commitment variables revealed that the treatment group that received the modified PAP with communication skills training was the group that accounted for the significant difference. The findings did not reveal a statistically significant difference on the communication variable. / All individuals in the treatment groups were provided an opportunity to respond to an open ended question concerning their experiences as participants. Of the 28 who were allowed to respond 82% chose to provide responses to the question. All the respondents reacted positively to their experience and reported increasing in their ability to communicate with their partner, learned to be more flexible in their behavior choices, and felt that they were not the only ones who had problems in their relationships. / An increased awareness of what premarital counseling programs offer to their participants is needed both for the practitioner providing premarital counseling and researchers who are interested in further studying the effects of this form of preventive counseling. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-10, Section: A, page: 3373. / Major Professor: Eileen M. Earhart. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_78082 |
| Contributors | Parish, William Edward, Jr., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 147 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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