Personality characteristics of wives and husbands participating in marriage enrichment

Abstract

The last 25 years have seen widespread growth in the availability of marriage enrichment programs throughout the United States. The working assumption of these programs is that participants have satisfying, well-function marriages and seek only to strengthen their present relationships and prevent possible disruption. Some research would suggest, however, that his assumption may not be entirely correct. Although participants may not be as dissatisfied with their marriages as couples who seek counseling, neither do they appear as satisfied with their marriages as non-participants (Powell & Wampler, 1982). The present research attempted to discover whether there were distinctive personality characteristics of marriage enrichment program participants which might be reflective of corresponding strengths or weaknesses in their relationships. Findings from the Adult Personality Inventory (API) indicated that participants in one program tend to appear more like couples who have problem marriages than those who have well-functioning marriages. Additionally, the API appears to be a sensitive indicator of relevant areas of interpersonal conflict and can be expected to become an increasingly important tool in relationship counseling.