Effectiveness of Training Based on Healthy Human Theory and Emotion-Focused Therapy in Marital Happiness

Background: Psychological factors affect marital conflict and happiness; in other words, they strengthen and shape marital relations. The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of training based on Healthy Human Theory (HHT) and Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) in marital happiness of couples living in Isfahan City, Iran. Materials & Methods: This research has a pretest-posttest control group design. The statistical population included all couples referring to mental health centers in Isfahan in 2020. The study sample consisted of 39 couples selected by the convenience sampling method. The participants were randomly divided into two experimental groups (training based on HHT and EFT) and control group (n=13 couples per group). The research instrument included the marital satisfaction scale. Follow-up was performed after 90 days. Repeated-measures ANOVA in SPSS software was used to analyze the data. Results: The results showed that training based on HHT significantly affected marital happiness compared to EFT and control group (P=0.001). The Mean±SD of the posttest scores of marital happiness in the HHT-based training, EFT, and control groups were 97.92±1.54, 87.50±5.56, and 75.38±8.71, respectively. There was no significant difference between the effects of HHT-based training and EFT on happiness in couples. Conclusion: Based on the results, the HHT-based training and EFT are appropriate methods for improving marital happiness.

The Predictive Power of Psychological Needs and Self-efficacy for the Level of Marital Happiness

This study aimed at identifying the most common psychological needs among wives, identifying the degree of self-efficacy and the level of martial happiness among the study sample individuals as well as identifying the extent to which these psychological needs contribute to predicting the level of marital happiness. The study consisted of (150) married female lawyers. To succeed the study objectives, the scale of psychological needs was developed; it consisted of (20) items that measure four basic dimensions: psychological security, the need to achievement, the need to affiliation, and need to respect. The scale of self-efficacy (Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1995) was used, and the scale of marital happiness was developed; it consisted of (40) items that measure five main dimensions: emotional adjustment, intellectual adjustment, family adjustment, social adjustment, and economic adjustment. The study results directed that the most common psychological need among wives is the need to achievement. The results revealed that the level of self-efficacy among the study sample individuals was medium. The results showed that the level of marital happiness among the married Jordanian female lawyers was medium for the total degree and each of the following dimensions (emotional adjustment, economic adjustment, intellectual adjustment, social adjustment), while the dimension of family cohesion was of a high degree. The results revealed that there is a predictive power for the psychological needs and self-efficacy concerning the level of marital happiness. In the light of the results, the study recommended the necessity of conducting further experimental researches in the domain of self-efficacy and marital happiness by developing counseling programs to improve these variables among spouses.

Marital Happiness in Time of Change: the Case of United Arab Emirates (UAE)

This study examined the extent to which marital happiness in the UAE can be correctly predicted from the knowledge of individuals’ subjective evaluations of their marital relational factors, including communication patterns, conflict resolution, marital role relationships, managing finance, children’s responsibilities sharing, and flexibility and closeness while holding constant the effects of the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of those individuals. To that end, self-administered questionnaires and in-depth interviews were conducted by trained research assistants. The study revealed important insights corresponding to marital happiness in the UAE, and predicted a number of factors that appeared to significantly predict this very important issue in society, in particular, communication patterns and conflict resolution style.

Religious Heterogamy, Marital Quality, and Paternal Engagement

Using data from a nationally representative sample of married fathers of school-aged children, we examined the association between religious heterogamy of parents and fathers’ involvement in children’s lives. We further examined whether that association is mediated by marital quality and father–child religious discord. Results showed that greater religious heterogamy is associated with less interaction and more relational distance between fathers and children. Results also suggested that fathers’ reports of marital happiness play an important role in mediating the association between religious heterogamy and paternal engagement. We concluded that religious fathers are more involved in their children’s lives insofar as their wives are equally religious and they are in happy marriages.

Marital Happiness and Psychosocial Mechanisms in Low-Income Chinese Families

The impact of economic circumstances on marital quality has been widely studied in Western countries; however, there is still no empirical evidence to examine this association in a Chinese context. This study aimed to investigate the impact of family income on marital happiness and associated psychosocial mechanisms among urban Chinese residents. Based on a national representative sample of 2,132 men and 2,394 women, the results demonstrated that low-income urban couples reported lower marital happiness compared with their higher income counterparts. For married women, low-income status increased the spousal hostility toward them, which in turn made them unhappy with their marriage, but this psychological mechanism did not happen to married men similarly. In addition, low-income status decreased both men’s and women’s perception of social support from family members and thus exerted a negative influence on their marital happiness. It is suggested that social work intervention programs aiming at low-income families should target their economic difficulties, help manage their assets, and deal with psychosocial relationships.