Cognitive/Behavioral "Skills Training" Program

Within the world of mental health, the approach taken in Christian PREP as with secular PREP would be labeled cognitive/behavioral. This simply means that the emphasis is on how people think and how people behave. There are other valid models for working with couples, but we strongly feel that the overwhelming weight of the current evidence favors using this approach to help couples prevent marital breakdown. The effectiveness of behavioral approaches with both premarital (Markman, Floyd, Stanley, & Storaasli, 1988) and marital couples (e.g., Hahlweg & Markman, 1988) is clearly established. Further, such an approach seems to us to be highly compatible with scriptural teaching. Being "right with God," having insight, and feeling in love are all wonderful things. However, none of these things guarantees that a person knows how to handle the challenges of marriage. Both scripture and research clearly suggest certain behaviors are destructive in relationships (e.g., Proverbs 18:13) and certain behaviors are constructive (e.g., James 1:19). Where do people learn and practice constructive communication and conflict management skills? This is one place they can do just that.

We feel it is equally valid to stress both insight and behavior. Insight is important when it leads to internal change and commitment to move a new direction ("...clean the inside of the cup." Matthew 23:26). Clearly, our behavior toward God and others is also very important, as Jesus in fact expressed in many ways ("Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Luke 6:31). While this program is very skills based (behavior), it will be clear that the cognitive side (a form of insight) is well represented in information presented on commitment, expectations, perceptions, and motivation. We believe that the strategies taught in this program have the ability to change thought patterns, expectations, and emotion, not simply behavior.

History and Background

Excerpted from:

Stanley, S.M., Blumberg, S.L., & Markman, H.J. (1999). Helping Couples Fight for Their Marriages: The PREP Approach. In R. Berger & M. Hannah, (Eds.), Handbook of preventive approaches in couple therapy. New York: Brunner/Mazel.

The specific roots of this work go back to the mid 1970s when many researchers were studying marital distress. At Indiana University, Howard Markman and Clifford Notarius teamed up with John Gottman to investigate the specific causes of marital distress. Along with other researchers around the United States (e.g., Birchler, Weiss, and Vincent, 1975), the group at Indiana was particularly interested in how distressed couples communicated compared to better functioning, happier couples. This team studied actual couple interaction through the use of trained observers. In brief, such research highlighted the fact that distressed couples were particularly deficient in their ability to communicate well.

While at Indiana University, Markman began a key longitudinal study to test the hypothesis that the communication variables that had discriminated between distressed and non-distressed couples in earlier research would predict the development of marital distress and divorce (Markman, 1981). Markman found that the quality of communication before marriage, and before distress had developed, was one of the best predictors of future marital distress. It was from this beginning that Markman founded a preventive program for couples based on empirical research. Over the years, Markman has been joined in the research, development, and refinement of this work by others, notably Frank Floyd, Scott Stanley, and Susan Blumberg (e.g., Markman, Floyd, Stanley, & Jamison, 1984). Studies have continued on the effectiveness of PREP over the past 20 years (Stanley, Markman, St. Peters, & Leber, 1995). The most up-to-date version of the program is embodied in a variety of materials for couples (e.g., Markman, Stanley, and Blumberg, 1994; Stanley, Markman, & Blumberg, 1994).

From its inception PREP departed from earlier efforts in this area which were based on armchair speculation and untested assumptions, and which had failed to document any actual long?term preventive effects. Instead, PREP emphasized the necessity of an empirical foundation to describe the nature of the problem, evaluate etiological factors, and demonstrate the short- and long?term effectiveness of intervention strategies. To accomplish these objectives, we began a program of longitudinal research to evaluate the possibilities for preventing marital discord and divorce as well as to identify the predictors of divorce and marital distress.