Marriage classes help, professor says

By Tad Walch
Deseret Morning News staff writer

PROVO — The spring wedding season begins in earnest this month, and a Brigham Young University researcher has an item to add to plans being made by brides and grooms.

Class time.

A couple who take a marriage preparation class before the wedding are better equipped for the new union than 79 percent of people who skip a formal premarital education and dive headlong into marriage, according to an article written in part by Jason Carroll, a Brigham Young University professor of marriage, family and human development.

"This should encourage people to be intentional, to be deliberate about marriage," Carroll said. "We spend so much time in this society planning and preparing for a wedding, but little time planning and preparing for a marriage."

The research, which appears in the national journal "Family Relations," provides a comprehensive look at 23 studies conducted over the past 30 years. Carroll said engaged couples should take note of one finding: The positive effects of premarital education programs are almost immediate.

Carroll expected such programs would help couples work through problems that crop up several years into marriage, but prospective brides and grooms who took the step of taking a class almost immediately did better than couples in control groups.

"These weren't couples who were motivated to change, either," Carroll said. "These are couples wearing the rosy red glasses of engagement."

This could be a crucial finding, considering that 15 percent to 20 percent of divorces occur three to five years after the wedding bells stop ringing.

Carroll's co-author said the research proves there is a strong need for emphasis on marriage preparation programs among couples, government and society.
"The evidence indicates that premarital education is a good investment for couples who are serious about preparing for a lifelong marriage and not just a one-day wedding," said William J. Doherty, director of the marriage and family therapy program at the University of Minnesota. "It also supports state legislation such as Minnesota's statute that gives a waiver of marriage license fees for couples who participate in a high-quality premarital education program."

Such programs help couples use effective communication styles to resolve problems, Carroll said. After taking classes, couples reported higher levels of relationship quality and a higher sense of partnership. They also made a smoother adjustment to married life.

Carroll recommends couples consider:

• Participation in a formal program or class
• Seeking advice from a counselor or religious leader
• Filling out an assessment questionnaire to evaluate relationship strengths and challenges
• Reading a book — together — about how to build a successful marriage

Carroll began the project a few years ago as part of his doctoral studies at the University of Minnesota because scholars and legislators have been arguing for more premarital education without an easy source of data to support their position.

"The last time a review of the literature was done in 1981," Carroll said. "A number of state-of-the-art studies have been done since that time. It seemed worthwhile to produce an update so as policymakers discussed the issues, they did so with a surer foundation."

The article provides that foundation, Carroll said, but also exposes a number of holes in the research. For example, no scholar has conducted a formal study of the effectiveness of marriage prep classes taught at BYU or any other college or university. Part of the reason is that people rarely attend those classes as couples, but there is also a problem in the lack of studies that track couples beyond the first year or two of marriage.

"The big golden ring this research has not tapped into yet is divorce prevention," Carroll said. "To show five to 10 years after marriage that these groups who engaged in premarital programs have lower divorce rates."

Such large, long-term studies need funding that isn't yet available, but the research so far is all positive.

"We have decades of research to do," Carroll said, "but these findings do give us a very nice first step, a pretty resounding stamp of approval for these programs. Marriage prep is useful."

E-mail: twalch@desnews.com