Limited research on couple relationship education (CRE) programs explores the relationships among potential outcomes over time. This study conducted tests of processes of change in CRE participants’ mental health and couple functioning, based on previous evidence of concurrent benefit in these domains following CRE participation. Using a diverse sample of 926 men and women we first tested the stress generation model (Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1991, 100(4), 555–561) assumptions that individual functioning influences relational functioning. We found support for immediate changes in mental health predicting changes in couple functioning 6 months later. However, a full cross-lagged prospective model comparatively testing the stress generation model and the marital discord model (Depression in marriage: A model for etiology and treatment. Guilford, 1990), which emphasizes relational functioning impacts on individual well-being over time, revealed the stronger directional link for both men and women was from immediate changes in couple functioning to later changes in individual mental health. Practical implications and future research directions are suggested.

中文翻译：

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参与夫妻关系教育后的个人心理健康和夫妻功能：探索变化之间的前瞻性交叉滞后影响

对夫妻关系教育 (CRE) 计划的有限研究探索了随着时间的推移潜在结果之间的关系。本研究基于先前关于 CRE 参与后这些领域同时受益的证据，对 CRE 参与者的心理健康和夫妻功能的变化过程进行了测试。使用 926 名男性和女性的不同样本，我们首先测试了压力生成模型（Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1991, 100(4), 555-561）假设个人功能会影响关系功能。我们发现支持心理健康的直接变化可以预测 6 个月后夫妻功能的变化。然而，一个完整的交叉滞后前瞻性模型比较测试压力生成模型和婚姻不和模型（婚姻中的抑郁症：病因和治疗模型。Guilford, 1990) 强调了随着时间的推移关系功能对个人幸福感的影响，揭示了男性和女性更强的方向性联系是从夫妻功能的直接变化到个人心理健康的后期变化。提出了实际意义和未来的研究方向。