Marriage Education: what do we know? What should we do about it?

By Harry Benson

References

1. Markman, H.J., Stanley, S.M., & Blumberg, S.L. (2001). Fighting for your marriage, New & revised. San Francisco: Wiley.
2. Markman, H.J., Stanley, S.M., & Blumberg, S.L. (2001). Fighting for your marriage, New & revised. San Francisco: Wiley.
3. Gottman, J. (1994). Why marriages succeed or fail. New York: Simon & Schuster.
4. Sanders, R.M., Nicholson, J.M., & Floyd, F.J. (1997). Couples relationships and children. In W.K. Halford & H.J. Markman (Eds). Clinical Handbook of Couples Intervention. Chichester: Wiley.
5. Olson, D.H. & Olson-Sigg, A. (2000). Empowering Couples: Building on your strengths. Canada: ENRICH
6. Gottman, J. & Levenson, R. (2000). The timing of divorce: Predicting when a couple will divorce over a 14-year period. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 62, 737-745.
7. Gottman, J., Coan, J., Carrere, S., & Swanson, C. (1998). Predicting marital happiness and stability from newly-wed interactions. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 60, 5-22.
8. Fowers, B.J. (2000). Beyond the myth of marital happiness. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
9. Fowers, B.J. & Olson, D.H. (1993). ENRICH Marital Satisfaction scale: A reliability and validity study. Journal of Family Psychology, 7, 1-10.
10. Halford, W.K. (2000). Australian Couples in Millenium Three. Canberra: Department of Family and Community Service
11. Stanley, S.M. (2001). Making a Case for Pre-marital Education. Family Relations, 50, 272-280.
12. Halford, W.K. (2000). Australian Couples in Millenium Three. Canberra: Department of Family and Community Service
13. Williams, L. & Jurich, J. (1995). Predicting marital success after five years: Assessing the predictive validity of FOCCUS. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 21, 141-153. Fowers, B. J., Montel, K. H., & Olson, D. H. (1996). Predicting marital success for premarital couple types based on PREPARE. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 22, 103-119.
14. David Olson, personal communication cited in Stanley, S.M. (2001). Making a Case for Pre-marital Education. Family Relations, 50, 272-280
15. Markman, H.J., Stanley, S.M., & Blumberg, S.L. (2001). Fighting for your marriage, New & revised. San Francisco: Wiley.
16. Stanley, S.M. (2001). Making a Case for Pre-marital Education. Family Relations, 50, 272-280
17. Data from www.marriagesavers.org
18. H.Benson analysis of Marriage Savers data
19. H.Benson analysis of Marriage Savers data
20. Stanley, S.M. (2001). Making a Case for Pre-marital Education. Family Relations, 50, 272-280
21. Wallerstein, J., Lewis, J., & Blakelee, S. (2000). The unexpected legacy of divorce: a 25 year landmark study. New York: Hyperion.
22. Amato, P. & De Boer, D. (2001). The transmission of marital instability across generations: Relationship skills or commitment to marriage? Journal of Marriage and the Family, 63, 1038-1051.
23. See BCFT website www.bcft.co.uk
24. Waite, L., & Gallagher, M. (2000). The Case for Marriage. New York: Doubleday.

Acknowledgements

I am very grateful to those who made constructive comments on earlier drafts of this paper. In particular, thanks to Dave Percival of “2-in-2-1” for challenging and encouraging me to clarify my thought process. Thanks also to Jill Kirby of the “Centre for Policy Studies”. This paper expands on a presentation I gave at her invitation. Finally thanks to Nick Gulliford of “FOCCUS”.