The effect of schema-based premarital education on marriage values and the ideal image of the mate in single girls

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of schema-based pre-marital education on marriage values and the ideal image of the spouse in single girls in Isfahan. This study was performed using the quasi-experimental method with pretest-posttest design and control group. The statistical population of this study consisted single girls under 30 years old in Isfahan. For this purpose, 30 single girls were selected through convenience sampling method and were divided into two groups: (15 people) in control and (15 people) in experimental group. The experimental group underwent schema-based pre-marital group training during 15 ninety-minute sessions. Participants answered the Marriage Values Questionnaire by Delkhamoosh (2007) and Spouse Selection Attitudes Questionnaire by Cobb, Larson and Watson (2003) in the pre-intervention and post-intervention stages. The only difference was that the control group did not receive any intervention. Findings from the covariance analysis showed that pre-marital education had a significant effect on the marriage values and the ideal image of the spouse (p <0.05).There is a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in the ideal image of the spouse in the post-test stage (P/00.05). Therefore, it can be concluded that the schema-based pre-marital education can be considered as an important and key pre-marital intervention. The results of this study can be used by family and marriage counselors.