Trends in Premarital Counseling*

Abstract

Recent developments and current problems in the field of premarital counseling are discussed. Particular attention is given to the need for better training of premarital counselors and for more systematic evaluation of the impact of premarital counseling strategies.

Perceived Premarital Counseling Outcomes Among Recently Married Army Personnel

“…However, the finding may simply reflect officer preference for educational rather than therapeutic options, since use of therapy is perceived as a black mark on one's career by officers (Sandburg, Schumm, & Kennedy, 1988). Overall, this finding confirms a long-suspected but untested theory that premarital counseling encourages couples to be more receptive to marriage and family therapy later (Schumm & Denton, 1979;Bader et al, 1980;Bader & Sinclair, 1983). Since it is likely that the couples in this sample sought both types of interventions at the same location (installation), the effect of premarital counseling on help-seeking behavior at different locations with unfamiliar therapists or counselors remains unknown.…”

“…Use of premarital counseling appears to encourage subsequent use of marital and family therapy, before couples reach clinical levels of distress as well as when they report such levels. Schumm and Denton's (1979) claim that premarital counseling might facilitate married couples seeking help in a timely manner appears to have been confirmed in this study, even when the immediate direct effects of premarital counseling may have been minimal. Table 2 presents the means and standard deviations for marital satisfaction of soldier and spouse as a function of use of premarital counseling and use of marital and family therapy.…”

“…A variety of programs have shown at least limited positive marital quality outcomes relative to nonparticipants (Bader, Microys, Sinclair, Willett, & Conway, 1980;Behrens, Sanders, & Halford, Downloaded by [York University Libraries] at 19:49 18 November 20141990Buckner & Salts, 1985;Markman & Halweg, 1993;Markman, Renick, Floyd, Stanley, & Clements, 1993;Miller, Wackman, & Nunnally, 1983;Most & Guerney, 1983;Renick, Blumberg, & Markman, 1992;Stanley et al, 1995), although most effects have been only short term (Wampler, 1982), and many of the successful programs have involved highly motivated volunteer participants. Second, Schumm and Denton (1979), Bader et al (1980), and Bader and Sinclair (1983) suggested that premarital counseling might-even if not directly successful at influencing postmarital satisfaction-establish sufficient rapport between the counselor and the premarital couple that the couple would be more inclined to seek postwedding counseling (or marital therapy). In addition, premarital couples who receive counseling may be more willing to seek later therapy because the premarital preparation experience would increase their awareness of the challenges of early marriage (Arond & Pauker, 1987), improve their familiarity with therapeutic resources, and increase their awareness of danger signals in their marriage that would suggest the need for additional support, including professional therapy.…”

Marriage as Covenant: Tradition as a Guide to Marriage Education in the Pastoral Context

“…They continue to perform the greatest amount of formal marriage education (Schumm & Denton, 1979;Stahmann, 2000). The majority of marriages begin with weddings in a religious setting or context.…”

Premarital counseling: Approaches, objectives, content, and evaluation—a bibliography

“…Since there is often little overlap of subscribers among theological, medical, legal, clinical, and psychological journals, professionals in one field may have little opportunity to learn conveniently what professionals in other fields are doing. The availability of the overall literature to any one counselor is limited for all practical purposes.Yet, given recent developments in program evaluation and counselor training (Schumm & Denton, 1979), the premarital counselor has opportunity to enhance his/her own program(s) by learning from Walter R. Schumm, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the …”