Comparing the Dimensions of Marital Intimacy, Commitment, and Satisfaction in Couples With and Without Pre-Marriage Counseling Experience

Fariba Tabkhi; Hajar Falah Zade; Neda Nazarboland

doi:10.18502/qjcr.v21i81.9496

Fariba Tabkhi Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
Hajar Falah Zade Department of Counseling, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
Neda Nazarboland Department of Counseling, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/qjcr.v21i81.9496

Keywords: Marital intimacy, marital commitment, marital satisfaction, premarital counseling

Abstract

Aim: The purpose of this study was to compare the dimensions of intimacy, commitment, and marital satisfaction in couples with and without pre-marrital counseling. Methods: The present study is a causal-comparative study, and the statistical population includes two groups of married people in Tehran between 2018-2019, one of which had experienced premarital counseling while the other group did not have this experience. The sample consisted of two groups of married people using available and convenient sampling method which consisted of total of 60 couples. Three questionnaires of intimacy, commitment and marital satisfaction were applied. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics indices and the mixed variance analysis method using SPSS software. Results: Findings showed that there was a significant difference between the two groups regarding the dimensions of marital intimacy in the dimension of psychological intimacy. And comparing the dimensions of marital commitment in the two groups showed that there is a significant difference in the dimension of personal commitment. Comparison of the dimensions of marital satisfaction showed that the counseling group in the dimension of children and parenting was significantly higher than in the counseling group. Conclusion: Therefore, it seems that pre-marital counseling programs need training and interventions in order to promote intimacy, commitment, and marital satisfaction.