Differential Use of Premarital Education in First and Second Marriages

Although second marriages are more likely to end in divorce than first marriages, and thus represent an important target for intervention, there have been no detailed examinations of the use of premarital education in second marriages. Using random-digit dialing methods, 398 individuals currently in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of family psychology 2009-04, Vol.23 (2), p.268-273
Main Authors: Doss, Brian D, Rhoades, Galena K, Stanley, Scott M, Markman, Howard J, Johnson, Christine A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Cohabitation
Couple and family
Couples
Couples Therapy - statistics & numerical data
Divorce
Divorce - prevention & control
Educational Status
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Help Seeking Behavior
Human
Humans
Male
Marriage
Marriage - statistics & numerical data
Marriage counseling
Odds Ratio
Premarital Counseling
Premarital counselling
Psychological distress
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Remarriage
Remarriages
Risk Factors
Social psychology
United States
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Summary:Although second marriages are more likely to end in divorce than first marriages, and thus represent an important target for intervention, there have been no detailed examinations of the use of premarital education in second marriages. Using random-digit dialing methods, 398 individuals currently in a second marriage and 1,342 individuals currently in a first marriage participated. Compared with those in first marriages, individuals in second marriages were significantly less likely to receive premarital education for their current marriage. This difference was fully mediated by differences between individuals in first and second marriages in pre-engagement cohabitation, education level, having children from a previous relationship, and being married by a religious leader. In both first and second marriages, those couples at most risk for subsequent marital distress and divorce were less likely to receive premarital education. Results suggest that more needs to be done to understand the barriers to the use of premarital education for second marriages.
ISSN:0893-3200
1939-1293
DOI:10.1037/a0014356