Marital therapy, retreats, and books: the who, what, when, and why of relationship help-seeking.
When doubts creep in and marriages begin to falter, where do couples turn for assistance? In a longitudinal study of 213 couples over the first 5 years of marriage, results indicated relationship help-seeking was relatively common, with 36% of couples seeking some form of outside help during this period. Individual and relationship difficulties predicted increased use of relationship books and marital therapy in the following year; therefore, these behaviors appear to be important outlets for relationship assistance. In contrast, attending marriage retreats/workshops was related only to demographic variables. Results of the present study suggest that the most common types of relationship help-seeking by community couples are understudied and likely underutilized in the dissemination of empirically based marital interventions.
Doss
Brian D
BD
Texas A&M University, USA. bdoss@psych.tamu.edu
Rhoades
Galena K
GK
Stanley
Scott M
SM
Markman
Howard J
HJ
D000328:Adult; D003376:Counseling / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008388:Marital Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D008393:Marriage / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*