Effects of PREPARE/ENRICH Couple Relationship Education for Chinese College Students in Heterosexual Exclusive Dating Relationships

Abstract

With the rapid economic growth and urbanization in mainland China since 1980s, there is a growing need for prevention efforts to help couples obtain skills and knowledge in order to sustain a satisfying intimate relationship. Couple Relationship Education (CRE) programs were developed by psychologists in Western countries as a preventive intervention for couples before relationships reach crisis stage. There was, however, a lack of empirical studies to examine the effectiveness of CRE in Chinese cultural context. The present study examined PREPARE/ENRICH (PE) effectiveness (as one example of a CRE program) on improving relationship quality by focusing on the college heterosexual dating couples in mainland China. A total of 92 recruited college couples in mainland China were randomly assigned to one of three groups: (a) treatment (PE assessment report + 12-hour workshop; 31 couples), (b) comparison (PE assessment report only; 30 couples), and (c) no-contact control group (31 couples). Seven measures were used to measure couple satisfaction; communication, conflict resolution, leisure activities, partner style and habits, sex and affection, and couple closeness at pre- and post-test. Results showed that the PE workshop was effective in improving all relationship variables except for the variable of sex and affection. The results also suggested that the PE workshop had more significant effects on female participants than on male participants on the dependent variables of relationship satisfaction, communication, conflict resolution and couple closeness. Recommendations for future research are discussed.