Understanding the Early Years of Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Couples' Marriages

Relational concerns and change in relationship satisfaction in a relationship education program

Lower income couples tend to report more difficulty sustaining high-quality intimate relationships. As a result, policy initiatives have been enacted to fund relationship education (RE) programs that aim to increase lower income couples' relationship satisfaction. Generally, these programs demonstrate small, albeit statistically significant improvements in mean levels of relationship functioning. It is critical, however, to understand if RE programming influences the developmental course of intimate relationships, and if this influence depends on couples' initial levels of concerns about their relationships. Using dyadic group-based modeling and three waves of data from 6034 couples in the Supporting Healthy Marriages project, a randomized control trial of RE, we categorized couples into four relationship concern groups (No Relational Concerns, Both Relationally Concerned, Men's Relational Concerns, and Women's Relational Concerns) and explored how these groups moderated the long-term efficacy of RE programming. Results indicated that RE was associated with different developmental trajectories of satisfaction, but RE effects differed for men and women. Specifically, random assignment into RE was associated with men maintaining high levels of relationship satisfaction, whereas women's satisfaction decreased over time. These effects were not moderated by initial relationship concerns. The association between RE and relationship satisfaction trajectories was small in magnitude, suggesting that more comprehensive services are needed to strengthen lower income couples' intimate relationships.

Relationship Satisfaction in Young Couples: Evidence for Validity of Short Scale Combining CFA and IRT

This study aimed to validate a short relationship satisfaction scale (RAS) in a sample of young people and adults in the Lima metropolitan area. There were a total of 806 participants aged between 18 and 30 years: 622 females (77.20%) and 184 males (22.80%). Every participant was currently in a love relationship of a minimum of three months. The methodologies of Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Item Response Theory (IRT) were combined to determine the structure and assess the reliability of the instrument. The Omega coefficient (ω) was used from CFA, while the test information function and empirical reliability (r_xx) were used from IRT. The results showed that the RAS could be interpreted as a one-dimensional scale when eliminating the items 4-7 and joining the items 1-2. This model shows high goodness of fit from a CFA-perspective. A similar situation occurs in IRT, except that error covariance is not considered. Nevertheless, assuming the elimination of items 4-7 is still a good option. The reliability in both CFA (ω = .838) and IRT (r_xx = .862) was satisfactory. The evidence of relationship with other variable showed inverse and big relationship with violent spells of tension and difficulty.

A randomized trial of relationship education using Within Our Reach for economically vulnerable couples

Couples relationship education is grounded in teaching couples' skills and strategies to form and sustain healthy relationships. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the impact of a relationship education intervention on emotion regulation, individual distress, dyadic coping, and relationship adjustment utilizing a randomized control trial for economically vulnerable couples. The analysis sample included 1418 couples (2836 individuals) who were randomly assigned to receive the 12-h Within Our Reach curriculum immediately, or to a wait-list control group. We estimated multilevel growth curve models over time among outcomes between treatment and wait-list control conditions. Treatment group couples demonstrated statistically significant improvements over the 6-month study period on emotional regulation and dyadic coping when compared to their wait-list group counterparts. Although models showed improvements in individual distress and relationship adjustments, these improvements did not amount to statistically significant group differences. Implications and limitations are also noted.

Strengthening lower-income families: Lessons learned from policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic

Families are navigating an unstable economy due to COVID-19. Financial stressors have the potential to strain intimate relationships and exacerbate prior inequities across lower-income families. Notably, the economic impact of COVID-19 disproportionately influenced Black and Latinx families. As a response to families' economic adversity during the pandemic, the federal government initiated the CARES Act. This type of federal response to lower-income families, however, is not new. The purpose of this paper is to contextualize and historicize previous and current efforts to mitigate the consequences of financial hardship on families by comparing the assumptions and efficacy of the Healthy Marriages Initiative and the CARES act. We conclude with four recommendations to promote well-being in lower-income families: (1) acknowledging and reducing inequities that disproportionally impact families racialized as Black or Latinx; (2) intervening to mitigate stressors surrounding families; (3) using innovative methods to deliver relationship education; and (4) considering prevention versus intervention strategies.