英语论文网

ove is important, it won't be enough if couples don't have the basic attitudes and skills they need for a successful marriage. Marriages that last require partners who respect one another, who have gained knowledge about what makes marriage work, and who have developed skills that will enhance the relationship.

The purpose of this study is to show that premarital counseling provides couples with the basic foundations that will enable them to solve marital issues that arise and stay married. Premarital counseling can send a message to couples that their marriage does matter, and it can help couples learn about their options if they need help later in their marriage.

Tillman, 5
There is also proof that some couples with some types of premarital training can lower their risks for marital distress. Situations will always arise in a marriage that is not foreseen at the time the wedding takes place. Problems with in-laws, money and sex are blamed as carrying the greatest thereat to marriage (Top Three Threats to Your Marriage, 2004). There appears to be a lack of research into the effect that premarital counseling has on marriages.
While there are studies indicating the value of counseling for couples who are already married and seeking help for current issues in the marriage there are many more studies assessing the couple’s levels of satisfaction with their marriage. The author of What works in premarital counseling, reports that review of current “articles on program modes and theories conclude that although more has been written and more programs offered in the last decade there still has been fewer longitudinal outcome studies done” (Groom, 47).

This is evident on the web site for the Council for Relationships. On this website the Council gives a list of articles that they published none of which address the issues and benefits of premarital counseling. Thus the need for this study is evident. Not only is there a huge lack of empirical evidence to prove of couples actually do benefit from premarital counseling.

Tillman, 6
test a premarital counseling theory that can be used in future research. Williams, Riley and Vandyke (1999) conducted a general empirical research study on the values of premarital counseling. In their research they surveyed more than 3,000 who have been married anywhere from one to eight years. The research concluded that support for the overall value of premarital counseling is great, but they did not closed define that value.
One of the draw backs of not have enough research on this topic is that there are no specific data instruments designed specifically to access the value of premarital counseling, it is necessary for an data instrument to be designed in order to obtain reliable and valid data. This lack of prior research leaves open the accessibility of several choices on how the data for this research can be collected.

For a study that would be more extensive in investigation and take on longitudinal characteristic the pre-test/post-test design would be more suitable. This is not a longitudinal study and a better research approach would be a review of the end result. This would be a comparing of the strength of marriages of couples who had premarital counseling to those who did not by using the survey method.

Tillman, 7
Sampling was done using the random appro