THE SCIENTIFIC CASE FOR MARRIAGE AND COUPLES EDUCATION IN HEALTH CARE

William J. Doherty, Ph.D.
Family Social Science Department
University of Minnesota

* Poor social relationships are as damaging to physical health as cigarette
smoking . The mortality rates of individuals with poor social relationships
are higher than those who smoke cigarettes for many years (House et al.,
1988).

* For adults, a stable, happy marriage is the best protector against illness
and premature death, and for children, such a marriage is the best source of
emotional stability and good physical health . Decades of research have
clearly established these links (Burman & Margolin, 1992; Dawson, 1991;
Verbrugge, 1979).

* Marital distress is an important health hazard for adults and children.
Marital distress leads to depression and reduces immune system functioning
in adults. In addition, chronic marital conflict harms the emotional and
physical well-being of children (Emery, 1982; Gottman & Katz, 1989;
Kiecolt-Glaser et al., 1993).

* Divorce is a major health risk for American adults and children. In
addition to well-established links between divorce and mental health
problems, adults who experience divorce more than double their risk of
earlier mortality. And children who experience a parental divorce have their
life expectancy shortened by an average of four years, according to a
fifty-year longitudinal study (Dawson, 1991; Cherlin et al., 1991; Doherty &
Needle, 1991; Tucker et al., 1996; Schwartz et al., 1995). These effects are
comparable to those of cigarette smoking.

* Marriage education is effective in promoting marital quality and
stability. Well-researched marriage education programs have demonstrated
that brief, skills-based educational programs for couples increase couple
satisfaction, improve communication skills, reduce negative conflict
behaviors including violence, and may prevent separation and divorce
(Markman et al., 1993; Wampler, 1990).

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Cherlin, A.J., Furstenberg, F.F. et al. (1991). Longitudinal studies of
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Emery, R.E. (1988). Marriage, divorce, and children's adjustment. Newbury
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