Effects of Relationship Education on Couple Communication and Satisfaction: Results from a Randomized Controlled Trial with Low-Income Couples

Although preventive educational interventions for families have been examined in more than 100 experimental studies, the value of this work is limited by reliance on economically advantaged populations and by an absence of data on proposed mediators and moderators. Yet, low-income families are at heightened risk for lower levels of relationship quality, communication, and stability (Amato, 2001). As such, preventive interventions that can promote more optimal levels of these outcomes in low-income families may be warranted.

In the current study, data from the Supporting Healthy Marriage (SHM) Project­­––a randomized, controlled trial of relationship education for low-income couples––were analyzed to test whether intervention effects on relationship satisfaction would be mediated by observational assessments of relationship communication and whether any such effects would be moderated by couples’ pre-treatment risk.

Families randomly assigned to the intervention participated in 10 weeks of group-based relationship education, met regularly with a support worker, and completed booster activities. Control group families received no services. The present analyses focus on the 1,034 families who provided (a) data on sociodemographic risk at baseline, (b) observational data on couple communication 12 months after randomization, and (c) reports of relationship satisfaction 30 months after randomization.

Intervention couples reported higher satisfaction at 30 months than control couples, regardless of their level of pre-treatment risk. Among higher-risk couples, the intervention improved observed communication as well. Preliminary analyses suggest that treatment effects on satisfaction were mediated by improvements in communication, and improvements in communication translated into greater satisfaction among higher-risk families.

Results suggest that relationship education programs can produce improvements in relationship satisfaction and communication, particularly for couples at elevated sociodemographic risk. Additional research examining the mechanisms through which interventions improve marital satisfaction is needed.