This article reports on the development and long-term evaluation of a marital distress prevention program for German couples, the fin Partnerschaftliches Lern-programm (EPL, A Couple's Learning Program). The EPL is a 6-session program designed to teach couples effective communication and problem-solving skills. In the current article, the EPL is evaluated in a prospective, quasi-experimental, controlled trial. The results of the 3-year follow-up are reported, contrasting 55 EPL couples with a control group of 17 couples. Significant differences emerged with regard to the couples' dissolution rates, relationship satisfaction, and positive and negative communication behavior favoring the EPL couples. These results demonstrate the utility of the EPL program in assisting happy couples who are preparing for marriage. The implications of the findings for prevention research and for the dissemination of prevention programs are discussed.

In a previous article, Riehl-Emde and Willi (1993) discussed the ambivalence of professional marital and family therapists towards the prevention of martial distress. In this article some of their criticisms are discussed, e.g. the norm-orientation and the social context of these programs. Since the authors raised doubts concerning the longterm-effectiveness of premarital prevention programs recent data from the EPL-study (Ehevorbereitung: Ein Partnerschaftliches Lern-programm) is presented. The EPL-program is designed to teach couples effective communication and conflict management skills. The effectiveness of the EPL was evaluated using 77 EPL- and 32 control-couples and a comprehensive assessment battery. At the 3-year follow-up EPL-couples showed higher levels of both relationship satisfaction and communication skills than control couples. Furthermore, the rate of separation and divorce was significantly lower. Marital and family therapists should reconsider their critical stance towards the prevention of marital distress.

The results of a study are presented, which investigated the application of the Five-Minute-Speechsample to the area of partnership-diagnosis. Using a self-developed coding system, speech samples of N=206 subjects were coded. The coding included a global assessment of the subject's satisfaction with his/her partner/partnership and a quantitive registration of all his/her critical or positive remarks. An evaluation of the coding system was done to determine its inter-rater reliability and its concurrent and predictive validity. The results prove the system's validity for the area of partnership-diagnosis and an inter-rater reliability ranging from satisfactory to good. The use of the FMSS as an open-ended procedure is recommended in addition to more structured psychometric tests.

In der vorliegenden Studie wurden die kurzfristigen Effekte eines verhaltenstherapeutischen Ehevorbereitungstrainings (EPL = Ein Partnerschaftliches Lernprogramm) an einer Stichprobe von 77 Experimental- und 32 Kontrollgruppenpaaren überprüft. Die Partner waren im Mittel 28 Jahre alt und noch nicht verheiratet, planten aber überwiegend, sich in nächster Zeit kirchlich trauen zu lassen. Die EPL-Paare besuchten entweder einen Wochenendkurs oder 6 wöchentliche Sitzungen in Gruppen von 4 Paaren, geleitet von zwei Trainern. Die Kontrollpaare wurden je zur Hälfte aus anderen kirchlichen Ehevorbereitungsveranstaltungen oder über Zeitungsanzeigen gewonnen. Die Lrainingseffekte im Sinne eines Vorher-nachher-Vergleiches wurden mit Hilfe von Fragebögen und Verhaltensbeobachtung (Diskussion von Konfliktbereichen) überprüft. In den subjektiven Maβen zeigten sich nach dem Training wie erwartet keine signifikanten Unterschiede zwischen den Gruppen, während sich bei den EPL-Paaren die positiven Kommunikationsfertigkeiten signifikant verbesserten und die negativen Verhaltensweisen deutlich abnahmen. Bei der Kontrollgruppe ergaben sich nur unwesentliche Veränderungen. Zur Überprüfung der langfristigen Effekte sind Katamnesen in 1,5 und 3 Jahren geplant.