Reported benefits of a Fit to Be Tied premarital mentorship program

ABSTRACT

The present study explored reported benefits that students related regarding a Fit to be Tied premarital program. Seventeen participants discussed their respective experiences in the context of semi-structured interviews as part of a phenomenological, qualitative research study. Noted benefits included (1) feeling connections with marriage mentors (with sub-themes being the provision of an outside perspective, modeling, and benefits drawn from mentors’ insights) and (2) the most commonly noted benefits (with sub-themes being “addressing important issues” and “communication is key,” quotes inserted). Overall, couples expressed optimism regarding their future marital relationships being potentially more secure as a result of having learned about the areas where they may agree or disagree in marriage. The results are discussed in the context of the preeminence that the participants placed on the construct of relationship, the gateway hypothesis, the potential that the sample represented a self-selected biased group of students, and what the participants in the study did not indicate as being one of the study’s themes.

KEYWORDS:

• Premarital program
• engaged couples
• mentoring
• relationships
• qualitative research