Effects of individual-oriented relationship education for parents: A randomized controlled trial.

Abstract

Individual-oriented relationship education aims to support healthy relationship development for singles, and provides flexibility for couples when only one member is available or willing to attend. While quasi-experimental studies have shown some benefits for those who attended relationship education individually, no randomized controlled trials have been conducted for individual-oriented RE. Moreover, it is not clear how relationship education benefits the co-parenting relationship when only one parent attends. Thus, this paper presents the results of a randomized controlled trial, with a wait-list control group, for a sub-sample of parents (N = 322) who participated in a 6-month trial of individual-oriented relationship education utilizing Prevention and Relationship Education Program's (PREP) Within My Reach (WMR) curriculum. Results indicated statistically significant, small, positive intervention effects on parent-child relationships 3 months after random assignment. However, no other treatment effects were detected for parents. We also found no statistically significant differences in the rate of change over the 6-month study period between treatment and wait-list control parents. There was a statistically significant effect for time, indicating that all enrolled parents in the study reported significant positive growth on emotion regulation, positive encouragement, parent-child relationships, and parental adjustment. We discuss implications for relationship education programming, as well as evaluating outcomes in future studies.

Examining the stability of emotional regulation and psychological distress for low‐income individuals: A latent transition analysis

“…Rhoades and Stanley (2009), and Stanley et al (2020) discussed the practical benefits of providing relationship education to individuals, including the potential for fewer scheduling challenges, addressing sensitive topics that might not be appropriate or safe with both members of couple, and a focus on relationship development for those attendees not currently in a relationship. Previous studies have shown that providing relationship education to individuals can improve parenting and family relationships (Carlson et al, 2021), relationship conflict (Antle et al, 2011; Carlson et al, 2018; Patnaik & Wood, 2021); and relationship quality (Antle et al, 2013; Patnaik & Wood, 2021). Thus, there is support for more relationship education programs to target individual attendees.…”

“…Limited research on individual-oriented relationship education programming exists. Researchers have found small positive effects on individual distress (Carlson et al, 2017), relationship quality (Visvanathan et al, 2015); conflict resolution (Antle et al, 2011;Carlson et al, 2018;Patnaik & Wood, 2021); communication (Antle et al, 2011); relationship skills and emotional well-being (Patnaik & Wood, 2021); and parenting/co-parenting (Carlson et al, 2021;Patnaik & Wood, 2021). Wadsworth et al (2011) randomly assigned participants to attend relationship education together as a couple or separately in an individual-oriented format.…”

“…Whereas the men reported no changes in their outcomes, couples and women who attended alone noted positive effects on perceived stress and primary control coping (e.g., emotion regulation). Of the research available on individual-oriented relationship education, many of the programs utilized PREP's Within My Reach curriculum (e.g., Antle et al, 2013;Carlson et al, 2017Carlson et al, , 2018Carlson et al, , 2021Patnaik & Wood, 2021;Visvanathan et al, 2015) as this program is one of only a few relationship education programs designed for individual participation. Preliminary results from previous studies indicated positive outcomes for individuals attending alone.…”

“…The Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance (OFA) has earmarked $150 million since 2003 to research and evaluate Healthy Marriages and Responsible Fatherhood programming. Most relationship education research supported through OFA has focused on investigating healthy relationships at the couple level (e.g., Arnold & Beelmann, 2019; Cowan & Cowan, 2012; Hawkins & Erickson, 2015), with limited, but emerging, research conducted on outcomes for individual‐oriented relationship education programs (e.g., Carlson et al, 2021; Patnaik & Wood, 2021). Studies of individual‐oriented relationship education have focused on both relationship and individual outcomes.…”

Introduction to special section: Federally funded, community‐based healthy marriage and responsible fatherhood program impact studies

“…Meta‐analyses demonstrate that relationship education with couples can be effective in improving relationship quality and communication skills (Hawkins et al, 2008; Hawkins & Erickson, 2015) and some studies with longer term follow‐up show that marriage education can prevent divorce (Stanley et al, 2014). Though less commonly studied, some studies also show impacts on parenting (Carlson et al, 2021; Le et al, 2021) and child (see review by Cowan & Cowan, 2014) outcomes, as well as individual mental health and physical health behaviors (Feinberg et al, 2010; Roddy et al, 2020).…”