Publication year
2012
Citation Title
The effects of marriage education for Army couples with a history of infidelity
Journal Name
Journal of Family Psychology
Journal Volume
26
Issue Number
1
Page Numbers
26
DOI
10.1037/a0026741
Summary
This study analyzed the impact of a marriage education intervention called Prevention and Relationship Education Program (PREP) compared to a control group on a sample of 662 Active Duty Army couples. Although all couples showed increases in marital satisfaction and communication skills, specific results indicated that couples with a history of infidelity were most impacted by the PREP intervention as they had the greatest increases in marital satisfaction and communication skills.
Key Findings
The PREP intervention was most effective for couples with a history of infidelity, such that those couples had the greatest increase in marital satisfaction and communication skills overall.
After exposure to the PREP intervention, there was no significant difference between communication skills between couples without infidelity and couples with a history of infidelity.
At baseline, couples with a history of infidelity were more likely to have lower communication skills and marital satisfaction than couples without.
Implications for Program Leaders
Educate military couples to enhance positive communication skills such as addressing issues directly and taking the other’s perspective
Offer peer support groups for military couples who seek marriage education and conflict resolution
Promote couple retreats that increase positive experiences to strengthen their relationship
Implications for Policy Makers
Endorse professional development courses for community providers to educate them about unique factors that contribute to marital strain for military couples
Continue to support programs that address challenges faced by deployed spouses and their partners
Recommend integrating marriage education into existing service delivery systems for military families
Methods
Participants were recruited through various media outlets, such as brochures and posters, as well as recommendations from chaplains.
Couples were randomly assigned to two groups: PREP intervention adapted for military use or control group.
Measures collected data at three time points, pre-, post-intervention and one year follow up, regarding infidelity, marital satisfaction, and communication skills within the intimate partnership.
Participants
In total, 662 married Army couples participated in a study, of which, 343 assigned to the PREP intervention, while 319 were placed in the control intervention.
Average age ranged from 27.7 years for females (SD = 6.2) to 28.5 years for males (SD = 5.9) and comprised of both Active Duty Soldiers (male = 97%; female = 8%) and civilian spouses (male = 3%; female = 92%).
Couples were comprised of the following race/ethnicity backgrounds: White (male = 69%; female = 71%); Latino (male = 12%; female = 11%); Black (male = 11%; female = 10%); Other/Nondisclosed (n = 8%).
Limitations
Reports showed that couples who received the PREP intervention who had a history of infidelity started with a much lower level of satisfaction than other couples, which could have influenced results.
Since the participants were self-selected, their rates of infidelity may be inflated compared to the general Army population.
Other untested variables, such as the problems associated with infidelity (i.e., when it occurred, intensity of event) could have influenced outcomes and were not controlled in the analyses.
Avenues for Future Research
Examine the influence of long-term marital education on marital satisfaction and communication skills
Analyze other branches of the military to see if results are generalizable to each population
Explore variables associated with infidelity on marital satisfaction and communication skills
Focus
Army
Target Population
Population Focus
Military Branch
Military Component
Abstract
While existing literature has begun to explore risk factors which may predict differential response to marriage education, a history of couple infidelity has not been examined to determine whether infidelity moderates the impacts of marriage education. The current study evaluated self-report marital satisfaction and communication skills in a sample of 662 married Army couples randomly assigned to marriage education (i.e., PREP) or a no-treatment control group and assessed prior to intervention, post intervention, and at 1 year after intervention. Of these, 23.4% couples reported a history of infidelity in their marriage. Multilevel modeling analyses indicated that having a history of infidelity significantly moderated the impact of PREP for marital satisfaction, with a trend for a similar effect on communication skills. However, couples with a history of infidelity assigned to PREP did not reach the same levels of marital satisfaction after intervention seen in the group of couples without infidelity assigned to PREP, although they did show comparable scores on communication skills after intervention. Implications of these findings for relationship education with couples with a history of infidelity are discussed.
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