The Effects of a Communication Skills Training Program on Marital Satisfaction, Commitment, Social Desirability, and Spiritual Well-Being

The issue of marital communication between newlywed couples was explored in an experimental design which was intended to teach communication skills to newlywed couples. The participants were all newlyweds who had been married less then one year. There was a total of 48 subjects involved in the study (N=48, IF16, k=3). All the participants were Christians and they represented five different denominations in the Portland area. Each couple was randomly assigned to one of three groups: the Couples Communication Program (CCP) treatment group, a Filmstrip Series (FSS) treatment group, or a wait list Control group. Each parson was tested before the treatment, after the treatment, and ten weeks after treatment. The measures used in the study were the Couples Pre-Counseling Inventory (CPI), the Marlowe-Crarme Social Desirability Scale (SD), the Spiritual Wellbeing Scale (&m), and the Marital Satisfaction Inventory (MSI). The data was analyzed in a sequential linear regression using pretest scores as a covariate. significant scores were obtained for four of the measures: communication Assessment (CA) , Problem Solving Communication (PSC), Conventionalization (ON), and Existential Wellbeing (BiB). A post hoc Scheffe test on the adjusted post test means revealed that the CCP method was superior to the FSS method and Control on CNV Control was superior to Both FSS and CCP on PSC; FSS was superior. to CCP on PSC and EWB; CCP was superior to FSS on CA. It was concluded that the three hypotheses were partially confirmed. There were significant differences between the group means on four measures but not the other six measures. CCP was a partially effective program in teaching basic communication skills to newlywed couples. In addition, the effects of CCP appeared to be due to the treatment itself and not only to nonspecific factors such as attention to the couple\u27s relationship or group interaction in general