SHORT-RANGE AND LONG-RANGE EFFECTS OF MARRIAGE ENRICHMENT AS AN ADULT LEARNING PROJECT USING A MARRIAGE WORKBOOK

The purpose of this investigation was to determine if married couples who participated in a workbook approach to marriage enrichment (ME) would differ from those in a control (C) group (1) in terms of communication as measured by the Marital Communications Inventory (MCI), and (2) in amount of improvement in the quality of their relationship as measured by the Relationship Change Scale (RCS). If differences were significant, would the experimental (E) couples maintain their higher scores?;To determine short-range effects, posttest data from the E group was compared with posttest data from the C group. To determine long-range effects, posttest data from the E group was compared with follow-up data from the same group. Analysis of variance procedures were used to test short- and long-range effects as follows: (1) treatment effect on MCI scores, (2) effect of sex on MCI scores, (3) interaction of sex and treatment on MCI scores, (4) treatment effect on RCS scores, (5) effect of sex on RCS scores, and (6) interaction of sex and treatment on RCS scores. The seventh comparison utilized t-tests to establish treatment effects on marital communication as reflected in the discrepancy of husbands' and wives' MCI scores.;Analysis for short-range effects resulted in two significant findings: (1) there was a significant between-group difference (p < .01) in the effectiveness of marital communication as reflected in the discrepancy between husbands' and wives' perception of their communication, with the E couples having significantly fewer discrepancies; and (2) there was a significant between-group difference in the amount of change in the quality of the marriage relationship, with E couples indicating a significantly greater positive change (p < .005). The analysis for long-range effects indicated no significant differences between posttest and follow-up measures, suggesting that E couples maintained (1) their level of interspouse agreement about the effectiveness of their communication, i.e., fewer discrepancies, and (2) the positive change in the quality of their relationship.;A posttest-only control group design was selected. Also, follow-up measures were administered to the E group. The sample was selected for a large urban church in the Southeast. Couples were randomly invited to begin the ME within two weeks (E group) or in eight weeks (C group). The treatment consisted of an at-home ME workbook by David and Vera Mace (1977).