Profile of durable and successful marriages: A new competency-based marital education program

The aim of this study was to assess the impact of a newly developed competency-based marital and relationship education (MRE) program for couples in Curaçao, Dutch Caribbean. In consideration to the 57% divorce rate in Curaçao, and the view that intuition or cohabitation are the sole alternatives to marriage preparation in the Dutch Caribbean, a new additional alternative that is both intellectually defensible and empirically based was proposed. This quasi-experimental study used a sample of 310 participants aged 19–63 years. Using the Solomon design and planned contrast for one-way ANOVA, we compared pre-, post-intervention and follow-up results after 2.5 years of couples in a distress and adjusted group. Statistically significantly increased scores were obtained for (1) marital satisfaction, with an effect size (Cohen’s d) of 2.18 for the adjusted group and 4.44 for the distressed group; (2) commitment (adjusted group d = 1.98, distressed group d = 2.90); and (3) the 12 profiled relationship competencies for marital durability (adjusted group d = 1.62, distressed group d = 6.27). Follow-up measurements conducted 2.5 years upon MRE program completion indicated that its effects were durable. We concluded that participation in the Profile of Durable and Successful Couples (PDSC) program resulted in increased marital satisfaction, relationship commitment, and mastery of the 12 profiled family and relationship competencies, that contribute to relationship durability. This implicate that the PDSC program under study can be adopted to prevent relationship erosion, while also assisting those experiencing relationship distress in finding satisfactory solutions. The competency-based focus of the program could be considered the matrix in maximizing the sustainable success of MRE program. © 2020 Fundación Universitaria Konrad Lorenz. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync-nd/4.0/).