In the past several decades, a number of largely atheoretical individual and meta-analytic studies of couple relationship education (CRE) programs have focused on program effectiveness without considerations of how these programs work and for whom. To address this gap in the literature, the current study drew upon assumptions from social-cognitive and behavioral theories that are implicit in CRE design to assess the influence of short-term changes from pre- to posttreatment in behaviors and commitment on changes in relationship quality among a racially and economically diverse group of 2,824 individuals who participated in a CRE program. Findings from structural equation modeling indicated that the best-fitting model for both men and women was one in which changes in behaviors predicted changes in relationship quality via their influence on changes in commitment. Further, a series of moderational analyses provided some evidence to suggest that the strength of the relationships between these variables may depend to a small extent on the social address of the participants (race, income) and to a greater extent on characteristics of the CRE experience (i.e., beginning the class at lower levels of functioning, attending with a partner). Findings help us begin to understand the influences among domains of change that occur as a result of participating in a CRE program, as well as offering some useful information to practitioners on demographic and contextual moderators of program outcomes. Implications for future research on the mechanisms of change for CRE are presented.
This study examined the association between the therapeutic alliance in family therapy and changes in symptom distress, interpersonal relationships, and family coping. The participants (N = 81) were members of low socioeconomic status families referred to a university clinic for in-home family therapy. Participants completed the Outcome Questionnaire, Family Crisis Oriented Personal Evaluation, and the Family Therapy Alliance questionnaires. Regression analyses revealed that the therapeutic alliance explained 19% of the variance in symptom distress changes for mother, 55% for fathers, and 39% for adolescents. The implications of these findings for practicing and researching family therapy are presented.
The Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale (RDAS; Busby, Crane, Larson, & Christensen, 1995) is a measure of couple relationship adjustment that is often used to differentiate between distressed and non-distressed couples. While the measure currently allows for a determination of whether group mean scores change significantly across administrations, it lacks the ability to determine whether an individual's change in dyadic adjustment is clinically significant. This study addresses this limitation by establishing a cutoff of 47.31 and reliable change index of 11.58 for the RDAS by pooling data across multiple community and clinical samples. An individual whose score on the RDAS moves across the cutoff changes by 12 or more points can be classified as experiencing clinically significant change.
The association between depression and marital satisfaction has been clearly documented. Theoretical approaches describe the direction of effects as depression leading to marital dissatisfaction (stress generation model) and, alternately, marital dissatisfaction leading to depression (marital discord model). Clinical research indicates that treating the relationship of unstable couples can result in improvements in relationship satisfaction and depression. However, many unstable couples may not attend therapy and choose rather to attend Couple and Relationship Education (CRE). Using 250 ethnically diverse couples in community CRE classes, the authors found that relationally unstable participants of CRE report improvements in depressed affect and relationship quality after program participation. Additionally, decreased depressed affect predicted increased relationship quality, not vice versa, and there were no differences by sex. The authors note the potential value of CRE for unstable couples and recommend that interventionists utilize an inclusive approach, devoting attention to the couple relationship as well as individual distress variables.
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