Midwest:
Findings
Findings
suggest that students taking the Connections curriculum improved in their
conflict resolution skills, became less likely to see divorce as a good
option for troubled marriages, and were more likely to take advantage of
pre-marital and post-marital programs to build better marriages. Implications
and recommendations for Family and Consumer Sciences Educators are discussed.
Results
In
a series of repeated measure analyses of variance, behavioral changes were
assessed. Hypothesis-A was not supported as there was no change in the amount
of trouble the Connections students got into at home or at school over the
duration of the curriculum. For hypothesis-B, the Conflict Tactics Scale
sub-scales (Reasoning, Verbal Aggression, Violence) were used as the dependent
variables. Those taking the Connections curriculum began using reasoning
tactics significantly more after taking the curriculum (F (1,131) = 8.03,
p=.005). This indicates that students went from using reasoning tactics
approximately 9 times to resolve conflicts with a close friend in the past
4 months, to using reasoning tactics 12 times over a similar time period
in resolving conflicts with their close friend after taking the curriculum.
This indicates a 33% increase over the course of the curriculum. The students
did not show any significant change in Verbal Aggression or in Violence
scores.
For the hypotheses regarding changes in student attitudes, both hypotheses
C and D were upheld. Hypothesis-C suggested that student attitudes toward
divorce would change after taking the curriculum. The repeated measures
analysis was significant (F (1,114) = 4.42, p = .038). Students averaged
19.7 points before the curriculum and 20.4 points after the curriculum.
This indicates that on the pre-tests, students were likely to "somewhat
agree" that divorce was an important option for people to have and
that it was okay to divorce under various conditions. After taking the curriculum,
the students, on average, moved to "somewhat disagree" with statements
that divorce was an important option for people to have and that it was
okay to divorce under various conditions.
For hypothesis-D, it was also found that students changed significantly
in their attitudes toward counseling (F (1,116) = 5.19, p = .025). The Attitudes
toward Counseling scale asked students how likely they would be to participate
in premarital counseling, post-marital counseling in the case of a troubled
marriage, and marriage enrichment programs. Before the curriculum was taught,
students averaged 2.51 on a four-point scale indicating that they were right
in the middle of "somewhat agree" and "somewhat disagree"
that they would participate in these services. After the curriculum, students
moved to a 2.41 average indicating that they had moved to the "somewhat
agree" side of the line.
For hypothesis-E (assessing differences
between Connections and control groups), before the analyses were performed,
a series of analyses of variance (or Chi-square analyses in the cases of
the nominal variables) were first run to assess if demographic variables
differed among the two groups. Variables included: age, family income, gender,
racial background, family type (two-parent, single parent), and parent's
marital status (divorced, intact). Of these, only age was significantly
different between the two groups with the Connections group averaging 16.34
years of age and the control group averaging 16.66 years of age (F (1,208)
= 4.15, p = .043). Age, however, did not significantly correlate with any
of the dependent variables and thus was not included as a covariate in the
repeated measures analyses.
In order to suggest that the Connections students made significantly
more progress than the control students over time, in the repeated measures
analysis we would expect the time by group interaction to be statistically
significant. Only those variables in which the Connections group had statistically
significant changes are reported here. In the area of conflict resolution
tactics, in general, over the course of the semester, the control group
maintained their high levels of violent and verbally aggressive tactics,
and their same level of reasoning tactics. Students taking the Connections
curriculum maintained low levels of violent and verbally aggressive tactics
but increased their use of reasoning tactics. However, the time by group
interactions were not significant for any of these areas.
For the divorce attitudes, the Connections
students became less likely to see divorce as a good option while the control
students became more likely to see divorce as a good option. The time by
group interaction for this analysis was statistically significant (F (1,
187) = 5.07, p = .026). While the Connections students moved from "somewhat
agree" that divorce is a good option to "somewhat disagree,"
the control students moved from an average of "somewhat disagree"
to midway between "somewhat disagree" to "somewhat agree."
For the attitudes toward counseling, although the Connections
students became more favorable toward marriage preparation and counseling,
the control students remained about the same (somewhat favorable). Therefore,
the time by group interaction was not statistically significant.
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California:
Findings
The
Connections Curriculum is effective as a violence prevention curriculum
particularly in the area of boyfriend - girlfriend relationships. It is
effective in decreasing the actual incidents of violence in close
relationships as well as the amount of verbal aggression. It is also
effective in improving parent-child communication and decreasing trouble at
home.
The curriculum is also
effective as a teen pregnancy prevention curriculum. Students taking the
curriculum improve over students not taking the curriculum on 3 out of 4
teen pregnancy risk factors assessed in the evaluation. Students taking the
curriculum improved in terms of their ability to resist sexual pressure.
Students also improved in the area of feeling that their parents and close
friends had positive attitudes toward abstinence. Lastly, students report
better overall communication with parents including talking to their parents
about relationships.
The Connections curriculum
is effective in terms of improving attitudes toward marriage while reducing
the likelihood that students see divorce as an ideal solution to problems in
marriage. Attitudes also change over the course of the curriculum in
terms of the students becoming more willing to attend marriage preparation
classes before marriage, marriage enrichment classes during marriage and to
attend marriage counseling if their marriage has problems in the future.
Additionally, students report that they are less likely to see cohabitation
before marriage as a good way to prepare for a future marriage. This
viewpoint is consistent with social science research which suggests that
cohabitation before marriage leads to increased risk of divorce, domestic
violence and affairs after the marriage.
In summary, the
Connections: Relationships and Marriage curriculum is effective as a
violence prevention curriculum. It is effective as a teen pregnancy
prevention curriculum in terms of its ability to reduce a number of the risk
factors of teen pregnancy. Additionally, the curriculum is effective at
preventing future relationship and marriage difficulties by improving key
attitudes that should lead to students participating in behaviors and
activities which are protective again future marital distress, domestic
violence and divorce.
For a copy of the full
findings click
here.
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