Understanding Outcomes of a Multi-Year, Multi-County Marriage Celebration Event Drs. Pamela B. Payne & Naomi Brower Weber State University and Utah State University

Introduction Since the 1950’s the desire for relationship education has been increasing in the United States resulting in the increased creation and proliferation of relationship education programs (Cowan, Cowan and Knox, 2010; Cowan and Cowan, 2014). Several meta-analyses (Cowan & Cowan, 2014; Halford & Bodenmann, 2013) show that generally these programs may have small but statistically significant impact on marital quality as often indicated through self- reports. Marriage relationship education has a greater affect in the short-term for those that are in immediate distress, and greater long-term effects for those that are in a preventative position (Blanchard, Hawkins, Baldwin, & Fawcett, 2009).

About the Northern Utah Marriage Celebration The Weber County Marriage Coalition hosts an annual event in conjunction with Utah State University Cooperative Extension as a “date night” enrichment event. The event had a yearly theme such as “Creating the Best Ever Marriage,” “Shake it Up,” or “Love Talks.” Speaker topics were selected through a needs assessment from the marriage coalition and from participant feedback from previous events. Workshops were presented by professionals from the local area and included topics such as intimacy, communication, and staying connected. An entertaining keynote speaker provided a fun but educational end to the evening.

Goals and Research Questions The primary goal of this project is to determine if the Northern Utah Marriage Celebration event influences participant knowledge. Research question 1: Does participant knowledge increase from prior to the event to two weeks post event? Does this differ by year of participation? Research question 2: Are there any differences based on participant age in the knowledge obtained and retained from the marriage celebration? Research Question 3: Are there any difference based on participant sex in the knowledge obtained and retained from the marriage celebration?

Methods The evaluation tool included presenter feedback, a posttest-then- retrospective-pretest questionnaire, demographic information, and open- ended questions (Marshall, Higginbotham, Harris, & Lee, 2007). Asked participants to rate six levels of relationship knowledge before and after the program (e.g., “how to effectively communicate with my spouse/partner,” and “how to settle disagreements well) on a rating scale from poor (1) to perfect (5). An electronic follow-up survey was sent approximately two weeks after the conference to those that provided email addresses. Perceived relationship knowledge scale (PRKS) (Bradford, Stewart, Higginbotham, & Skogrand, 2015)which is a 6-item measure used to assess participant understanding of various relationship skills such as communication, problem solving, and strengthening relationship. Cronbachs alpha .88 and .87 in this sample for pre- and post-test respectively

Participants Average event attendance is roughly 520 individuals per year (N = 480 in 2015; N = 554 in 2016)   Year Participant Sex Age Pre-Test (N = 368) 2015 Male = 47.3 % (N = 189) Female = 52.8% (N = 211) M = 40 yrs (SD = 10.7) Range 4 – 70 Pre-Test (N = 500) 2016 Male = 48.4 % (N = 242) Female = 51.6 % (N = 258) M = 41 yrs (SD = 11.1) Range 14 - 74 Post-Test (N = 355) Male = 47.3 % (N = 174) Female = 52.7 % (N = 194) M = 40 yrs (SD = 10.7) Range 4 - 70 Post-Test (N = 474) Male = 47.5 % (N = 225) Female = 52.5 % (N = 249) M = 41 yrs (SD = 11.2)

Results Results indicated a significant (p < .001) and positively correlated (r = .456) increase in participants from the pretest to the posttest across both years of participation. This suggests that the Marriage Celebration is meeting its goal of increasing participant knowledge in their relationships. Results indicate that participants in 2015 and 2016 did not differ at Time 1 but did differ significantly at Time 2. Scale Time 1: F Value Time 1 Group Differences Time 2: F Value Time 2 Group Differences Direction of Difference (Figure 1) Perceived Knowledge 3.6t ns 5.4* 2015 & 2016 p < .05 2015 < 2016

Results Research Question 2 results indicate that there were difference in participants knowledge transformation based on age at the post-test assessment but not during the pre-workshop assessment. There was a significant difference between various age groups at the time of the post-test, but not at the pre-test assessment. Results indicate that younger participants were gaining more perceived knowledge than older participants were on the self-reported perception of relationship skills measure Research Question 3 results indicated that there were no significant differences in knowledge obtained and retained by participant sex.

Results

Discussions This suggests that Community Relationship Education is effective. The Marriage Celebration does help individuals improve their relationships. This supports the continuation of CRE events such as this one. Age matters… Participants at the older end of the spectrum may be less concerned with perceptions of knowledge making them more open to learning to improve their relationships. Participants at the younger end of the spectrum may be more eager to learn as their relationships may be newer. Participant sex doesn’t matter in obtaining and retaining knowledge.

Implications and Future Directions We should continue to offer Community Relationship Education aimed at prevention and enhancement for couples. Longitudinal work would be beneficial to determine if these improvements are enduring over time or if the benefit is only short term. Does dosage matter? We will be examining the difference between this event and other similar events that have differing lengths. What does the qualitative data say? We will be exploring this next for 2015-2017.

Contact: Pamela B. Payne pamelapayne@weber.edu Thank you! Questions? Contact: Pamela B. Payne pamelapayne@weber.edu