Examining Relationship Satisfaction and Individual Distress for Low-to-Moderate Income Couples in Relationship Education

Abstract

Although economic disadvantage is linked to poor relationship quality and increased individual distress, emerging literature supports couples and relationship education as effective at improving relationship quality for low-income couples. However, relationship education’s influence on individual distress for low-income couples has not yet been determined. We provided relationship education using the Prevention Relationship Enhancement Program curriculum to 96 low-to-moderate income married couples with children and examined changes in relationship quality and individual distress pre, post, and 3–6 months after intervention. We found significant improvements in relationship satisfaction and significant individual distress decreases. Implications are discussed.

Keywords

relationship satisfaction individual distress low-income couples

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Adler-Baeder

Bradford

Skuban

Lucier-Greer

Ketring

Smith

(2010). Demographic predictors of relationship and marriage education participants’ pre- and post-program relational and individual functioning. Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy, 9, 113–132. doi:10.1080/15332691003694885

Baucom

D. H.

Hahlweg

Kuschel

(2003). Are waiting list control groups needed in future marital therapy outcome research? Behavior Therapy, 34, 179–188. doi:10.1016/S0005-7894(03)80012-6

Beach

S. R. H.

Cassidy

J. F.

(1991). The marital discord model of depression. Comprehensive Mental Health Care, 1, 119–136.

Blanchard

V. L.

Hawkins

A. J.

Baldwin

S. A.

Fawcett

E. B.

(2009). Investigating the effects of marriage and relationship education on couples’ communication skills: A meta-analytic study. Journal of Family Psychology, 23, 203–214. doi:10.1037/a0015211

Carlson

R. G.

Barden

S. M.

Daire

A. P.

Greene

(In Press). Influence of relationship education on relationship satisfaction for low-income couples. Journal of Counseling and Development.

Carlson

R. G.

Daire

A. P.

Munyon

M. D.

Soto

Bennett

Marshall

McKinzie

(2012). Examining recruitment follow-up phone calls and their influence on attendance for husbands and wives in a marriage and relationship education program. Marriage & Family Review, 48, 82–95. doi:10.1080/01494929.2011.627493

Charles

Orthner

D. K.

Jones

Mancini

(2006). Poverty and couple relationships. Marriage and Family Review, 39, 27–52. doi:10.1300/J002v39n01_03

Choi

Marks

N. F.

(2008). Marital conflict, depressive symptoms, and functional impairment. Journal of Marriage and Family, 70, 377–390. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2008.00488.x

Christensen

Baucom

D. H.

C. T.-A.

Stanton

(2005). Methodologically sound, cost-effective research on the outcome of couple therapy. Journal of Family Psychology, 19, 6–17.

10.

Clark-Nicolas

Gray-Little

(1991). Effects of economic resources on marital quality in black married couples. Journal of Marriage and Family, 53, 645–655.

11.

Conger

R. D.

Conger

K. J.

Elder

G. H.

Jr Lorenz

F. O.

Simons

R. L.

Whitbeck

L. B.

(1992). A family process model of economic hardship and adjustment of early adolescent boys. Child Development, 63, 526–541. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1992.tb01644.x

12.

Conger

R. D.

Rueter

M. A.

Elder

G. H.

Jr (1999). Couple resilience to economic pressure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 54–71. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.76.1.54

13.

Dakin

Wampler

(2008). Money doesn’t buy happiness, but it helps: Marital satisfaction, psychological distress, and demographic differences between low- and middle-income clinic couples. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 36, 300–311. doi:10.1080/01926180701647512

14.

Davila

Karney

B. R.

Hall

T. W.

Bradbury

T. N.

(2003). Depressive symptoms and marital satisfaction: Within-subject associations and the moderating effects of gender and neuroticism. Journal of Family Psychology, 17, 557–570. doi:10.1037/0893-3200.17.4.557

15.

DeVellis

R. F.

(2003). Scale development: Theory and applications (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

16.

Dion

R. M.

(2005). Healthy marriage programs: Learning what works. The Future of Children, 15, 139–156. doi:10.1353/foc.2005.0016

17.

Ditzen

Hahlweg

Fehm-Wolfsdorf

Baucom

(2011). Assisting couples to develop healthy relationships: Effects of couples relationship education on cortisol. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 36, 597–607. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2010.07.019

18.

Gaubert

J. M.

Gubits

Alderson

D. P.

Knox

(2012). The supporting healthy marriage evaluation: Final implementation findings. OPRE Report 2012-12. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. doi:10.2139/ssrn.2151081

19.

Halford

K. W.

Markman

H. J.

Kline

G. H.

Stanley

S. M.

(2003). Best practice in couple relationship education. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 29, 385–406. doi:10.1111/j.1752-0606.2003.tb01214.x

20.

Halford

W. K.

Sanders

M. R.

Behrens

B. C.

(2001). Can skills training prevent relationship problems in at-risk couples? Four-year effects of a behavioral relationship education program. Journal of Family Psychology, 15, 750–768. doi:10.1037/0893-3200.15.4.750

21.

Hawkins

A. J.

Blanchard

V. L.

Baldwin

S. A.

Fawcett

E. B.

(2008). Does marriage and relationship education work? A meta-analytic study. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 76, 723–734. doi:10.1037/a0012584

22.

Hawkins

A. J.

Fackrell

T. A.

(2010). Does relationship and marriage education for lower-income couples work? A meta-analytic study of emerging research. Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy, 9, 181–191. doi:10.1080/15332691003694927

23.

Hawkins

A. J.

Ooms

(2012). Can marriage and relationship education be an effective policy tool to help low-income couples form and sustain healthy marriages and relationships? A review of lessons learned. Marriage and Family Review, 48, 524–554. doi:10.1080/01494929.2012.677751

24.

Higginbotham

B. J.

Myler

(2011). The influence of facilitator and facilitation characteristics on participants’ ratings of stepfamily education. Family Relations, 59, 74–86. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3729.2009.00587.x

25.

Isakson

R. L.

Hawkins

E. J.

Harmon

S. C.

Slade

Martinez

J. S.

Lambert

M. J.

(2006). Assessing couple therapy as a treatment for individual distress: When is referral to couple therapy contraindicated? Contemporary Family Therapy, 28, 313–322.

26.

Jakubowski

S. F.

Milne

E. P.

Brunner

Miller

R. B.

(2004). A review of empirically supported marital enrichment programs. Family Relations, 53, 528–536. doi:10.1111/j.0197-6664.2004.00062.x

27.

Karney

B. R.

Bradbury

T. N.

(2005). Contextual influences on marriage: Implications for policy and intervention. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14, 171–176. doi:10.1111/j.0963-7214.2005.00358.x

28.

Kenny

D. A.

Kashy

D. A.

Cook

W. L.

(2006). Dyadic data analysis. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

29.

Lambert

M. J.

Morton

J. J.

Hatfield

Harmon

Hamilton

Reid

R. C.

Burlingame

G. M.

(2004). Administration and scoring manual for the OQ-45.2. Brigham Young University, American Professional Credentialing Services, LLC.

30.

Lorant

Croux

Weich

Deliege

Mackenback

Ansseau

(2007). Depression and socio-economic risk factors: 7-Year longitudinal population study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 190, 293–298. doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.105.020040

31.

Lundblad

A.-M.

Hansson

(2005). Outcomes in couples therapy: Reduced psychiatric symptoms and improved sense of coherence. Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 59, 374–382. doi:10.1080/08039480500319795

32.

Markman

H. J.

Floyd

F. J.

Stanley

S. M.

Storaasli

R. D.

(1988). Prevention of marital distress: A longitudinal investigation. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 210–217. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.56.2.210

33.

Markman

H. J.

Renick

M. J.

Floyd

F. J.

Stanley

S. M.

Clements

(1993). Preventing marital distress through communication and conflict management training: A 4- and 5-year follow-up. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 61, 70–77. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.61.1.70

34.

Markman

H. J.

Rhoades

G. K.

(2012). Relationship education research: Current status and future directions. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 38, 169–200. doi:10.1111/j.1752-0606.2011.00247.x

35.

Menard

(2009). Developing a domestic violence protocol. Oklahoma City, OK: National Healthy Marriage Resource Center.

36.

Moore

K. A.

Kinghorn

Bandy

(2011). Parental relationship quality and child outcomes across subgroups. Child Trends Research Brief, publication #2011-13. Retrieved from http://www.childtrends.org/?publications=parental-relationship-quality-and-child-outcomes-across-subgroups

37.

Neff

L. A.

Karney

B. R.

(2004). How does context affect intimate relationships? Linking external stress and cognitive processes within marriage. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 30, 134–148. doi:10.1177/0146167203255984

38.

Nuttall

(2002). Modes of therapeutic relationship in brief dynamic psychotherapy. Journal of Psychodynamic Process, 89, 505–523. doi:10.1080/1353333021000038854

39.

O’Leary

K. D.

Beach

S. R. H.

(1990). Marital therapy: A viable treatment for depression and marital discord. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 147, 183–186.

40.

Ooms

Wilson

(2004). The challenges of offering relationship and marriage education to low-income populations. Family Relations, 53, 440–447. doi:10.1111/j.0197-6664.2004.00052.x

41.

Overbeek

Vollebergh

de Graaf

Scholte

de Kemp

Engels

(2006). Longitudinal associations of marital quality and marital dissolution with the incidence of DSM-III-R disorders. Journal of Family Psychology, 20, 284–291. doi:10.1037/0893-3200.20.2.284

42.

Pappas-DeLuca

K. A.

Kraft

J. M.

Edwards

S. L.

Casillas

Harvey

S. M.

Huszti

H. C.

(2006). Recruiting and retaining couples for an HIV prevention intervention: Lessons learned from the PARTNERS project. Health Education Research, 21, 611–620. doi:10.1093/her/cyl030

43.

Pearlin

L. I.

Menaghan

E. G.

Lieberman

M. A.

Mullan

J. T.

(1981). The stress process. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 22, 337–356.

44.

Quirk

Owen

Inch

L. J.

France

Bergen

(2013). The alliance in relationship education programs. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 1–14. doi:10.1111/jmft.12019

45.

Sanderson

Kosutic

Garcia

Melendez

Donoghue

Perumbilly

Anderson

(2009). The measurement of outcome variables in couple and family therapy research. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 37, 239–257. doi:10.1080/01926180802405935

46.

Spanier

G. B.

(2001). Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS). North Tonawanda, NY: Multi-Health Systems.

47.

Veldorale-Brogan

Bradford

Vail

(2010). Marital virtues and their relationship to individual functioning, communication, and relationship adjustment. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 5, 281–293. doi:10.1080/17439760.2010.498617

48.

Whisman

M. A.

Bruce

M. L.

(1999). Marital dissatisfaction and incidence of major depressive episode in a community sample. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 108, 674–678. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.108.4.674

49.

Yancy

W. K.

Ortega

A. N.

Kumanyika

S. K.

(2006). Effective recruitment and retention of minority research participants. Annual Review of Public Health, 27, 1–28. doi:10.1146/annurev.publhealth.27.021405.102113

50.

Young

M. E.

Carlson

R. G.

(2011). Fragile couples, fragile families [Monograph]. Counseling and Human Development, 43, 1–12.