The Effectiveness of Positive Couple Therapy on Marital Adjustment and Marital Fusion in Couples with Marital Conflicts
Keywords:
Positive Couple Therapy, marital adjustment, Marital Fusion, Marital conflictsAbstract
Purpose: The present research was conducted with the aim of determine the effectiveness of positive couple therapy on marital adjustment and marital fusion in couples with marital conflicts.Methodology: The present research was a quasi-experimental with a pre-test and post-test design with experimental and control groups. The statistical population of this study was all couples with marital conflicts who referred to counseling centers of Ahvaz city in the autumn season of 2023 year. The samples of this research was 32 people (16 couples) who were selected by purposive sampling method and randomly assigned into two equal groups including experimental and control groups. The experimental group was trained for 10 sessions of 60 minute with positive couple therapy method, and during this time the control group did not receive any training. The data of the present research were collected with a marital adjustment scale (Spanier, 1976) and marital fusion questionnaire (Singer & Skerrett, 2014) and analyzed with tests of chi-square and multivariate analysis of covariance in SPSS-26 software.Findings: The findings of this research showed that couples with marital conflicts in the experimental and control groups did not significantly different in terms of age, occupation, and education level (P>0.05). Also, positive couple therapy significantly increased marital adjustment and marital fusion in couples with marital conflicts (P<0.001).Conclusion: According to the results of this study, planning to use positive couple therapy intervention to increase marital adjustment and marital fusion in couples with marital conflicts is necessary.
Downloads
References
Antoine, P., Andreotti, E., & Congard, A. (2020). Positive psychology intervention for couples: A pilot study. Stress & Health, 36(2), 179-190. https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.2925
Cruwys, T., South, E. I., Halford, W. K., Murray, J. A., & Fladerer, M. P. (2023). Measuring "we-ness" in couple relationships: A social identity approach. Family Process Journal, 62(2), 795-817. https://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12811
Demirci, A. D., Aydin, R., Korukcu. O., & Kabukcuoglu, K. (2022). Is marital adjustment a way to increase women’s identification with the motherhood role during pregnancy? A correlational assessment. Health Care for Women International, 43(6), 568-582. https://doi.org/10.1080/07399332.2020.1867859
Dong, S., Dong, Q., & Chen, H. (2022). Mothers' parenting stress, depression, marital conflict, and marital satisfaction: The moderating effect of fathers' empathy tendency. Journal of Affective Disorders, 299, 682-690. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2021.12.079
Frye-Cox, N., Ganong, L., Jensen, T., & Coleman, M. (2021). Marital conflict and health: The moderating roles of emotion regulation and marriage order. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 62(6), 450-474. https://doi.org/10.1080/10502556.2021.1925853
Galdiolo, S., Mauroy, A., & Verhofstadt, L. L. (2023). Couples' we-ness and separateness during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown: A longitudinal perspective. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 42(3), 342-354. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927x221138116
Genc, E. (2021). Transforming stress to happiness: Positive couple therapy with distressed couples. Journal of Happiness and Health, 1(1), 4-15. https://www.journalofhappinessandhealth.com/index.php/johah/article/view/3
Gildersleeve, S., Singer, J. A., Skerrett, K., & Wein, S. (2017). Coding "we-ness" in couple's relationship stories: A method for assessing mutuality in couple therapy. Psychotherapy Research, 27(3), 313-325. https://doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2016.1262566
Haghighifard, S., Khaleghipour, Sh., & Zare Neyestanak, M. (2023). The effectiveness of compassion-focused positive couple therapy on entitlement, bullying, and marital adjustment in narcissistic men. Quarterly Journal of Psychological Studies, 19(2), 71-85. https://doi.org/10.22051/psy.2023.43018.2756
Haroon Rashidi, H., & Kiyaniyan Mehr, Z. (2019). The effect of the positive couple therapy on the marital intimacy and sexual satisfaction of female students. Family Pathology, Counseling & Enrichment, 5(1), 125-138. http://dorl.net/dor/20.1001.1.24234869.1398.5.1.5.2
Heydari, N., & Saedi, S. (2020). The effectiveness of positive psychotherapy on marital satisfaction, love-making styles and happiness among couples. Community Health, 7(2), 191-200. http://doi.org/10.22037/ch.v7i2.25259.
Jamshidzhi, B., Kahrazei, F., & Shirazi, M. (2022). The effectiveness of positive couple therapy and acceptance and commitment on increasing marital adjustment. Medical Journal of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, 65(5), 2101-2112. https://doi.org/10.22038/mjms.2022.21958
Kaya, D., & Baser, M. (2024). The effect of back massage applied by spouses on sleep quality, menopausal complaints and marital adjustment in climacteric women. Advances in Integrative Medicine, 11(4), 265-272. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aimed.2024.08.003
Lebow, J., & Snyder, D. K. (2022). Couple therapy in the 2020s: Current status and emerging developments. Family Process, 61(4), 1359-1385. https://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12824
Ozguc, S., & Tanriverdi, D. (2018). Relations between depression level and conflict resolution styles, marital adjustments of patients with major depression and their spouses. Archives of Psychiatry Nursing, 32(3), 337-342. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnu.2017.11.022
Pastore, O. L., Sherrington, K., & Fortier, M. S. (2024). A catalyst for personal growth: The influence of a positive education course on undergraduate student mental health one-year later and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 10, 101043. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2024.101043
Saadati Shamir, A., Saniee, M., & Zare, E. (2019). Effectiveness of couple therapy by Gottman method on family function and marital adjustment in divorce applicant couples. Iranian Journal of Rehabilitation Research in Nursing, 5(2), 10-17. http://ijrn.ir/browse.php?a_id=389&sid=1&slc_lang=en
Sandholm, D., Simonsen, J., Strom, K., & Fagerlund, A. (2023). Teachers’ experiences with positive education. Cambridge Journal of Education, 53(2), 237-255. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305764X.2022.2093839
Santos, C., Costa, M. E., Pedro, J., Higginbotham, B. J., & Martins, M. V. (2024). Marital adjustment in remarriage: A systematic review. Family Transitions, 65(4), 291-322. https://doi.org/10.1080/28375300.2024.2355001
Seligman, M. E. P., Rashid, T., & Parks, A. C. (2006). Positive psychotherapy. American Psychologist, 61(8), 774-788. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.61.8.774
Sinai, M., & Peleg, O. (2021). Marital interactions and experiences of women living in polygamy: An exploratory study. International Journal of Psychology, 56(3), 361-377. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12726
Singer, J. A., & Skerrett, K. (2014). Positive couple therapy using we-stories to enhance resilience. 1st Edition, Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203383995
Singh, Y., Gupta, V., & Srivastava, A. K. (2023). Marital conflict, health, and well-being among couples. International Journal of Indian Psychology, 11(1), 1098-1110. http://dx.doi.org/10.25215/1101.112
Spanier, G. B. (1976). Measuring dyadic adjustment: New scales for assessing the quality of marriage and similar dyads. Journal of Marriage and Family, 38(1), 15-28.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/350547
Treter, M. O., River, L. M., & Markman, H. J. (2021). Supporting romantic relationships during COVID-19 using virtual couple therapy. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 28(4), 597-607. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpra.2021.02.002
Vahidi Farashan, M., Shafiabadi, A., Khodabakhshi Koolaei, A. (2022). Effectiveness of positive couple therapy in the empathy and intimacy of infertile couples. Razavi International Journal of Medicine, 10(1), 64-70. https://doi.org/10.30483/rijm.2022.254295.1129
Wilson, S. J., Syed, S. U., Yang, I. S., & Cole, S. W. (2024). A tale of two marital stressors: Comparing proinflammatory responses to partner distress and marital conflict. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 119, 898-907. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2024.05.003
Zareei MahmoodAbadi, H. (2017). The effectiveness of the training of the positive psychology on the growth of devotion and trust to the life in the normal women of Bafq city. The Journal of Toloo-e-Behdasht, 16(2), 98-109. https://tbj.ssu.ac.ir/article-1-1656-en.html
Downloads
Published
Submitted
Revised
Accepted
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Rodabeh Didehban, MohammadHossein Mohebi Nouredinvand (Author)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.