A Comparison of Cohabiting and Noncohabiting Couples Who Participated in Premarital Counseling Using the PREPARE Model

Premarital counseling is a preventive tool against future marital discord. Research targeting premarital counseling interventions typically examined the effects of the intervention on later marital unions, as well as risk factors associated with cohabiting. This study evaluated differences among 120 premarital counseling participants using the PREPARE model. However, not all participants completed treatment. Therefore, we examined differences in preintervention levels of relationship satisfaction, as measured by the Marital Adjustment Test and individual distress, as measured by the Outcomes Questionnaire 45.2 between participants that completed premarital counseling (n = 46) versus those that did not (n = 74). Participants who completed attended an average of eight sessions. Additionally, for the 46 men (n = 23) and women (n = 23) who completed premarital counseling, changes in relationship satisfaction and individual distress were examined along with differences between those who were cohabiting (n = 28; 14 men and 14 women) and noncohabiting (n = 18; 9 men and 9 women). The authors found statistically significant improvements in relationship satisfaction for men and women who completed premarital counseling and statistically significant improvements in individual distress for men upon completion of treatment. The authors also found statistically significant differences in relationship satisfaction for men and women between those who completed and those who did not complete the premarital counseling treatment. Implications for couples counselors, as well as recommendations for future research, are discussed.