US ‘marriage rescue’ plan

The
Catholic Weekly
Online

Sydney
18 April 2004

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US ‘marriage rescue’ plan

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US ‘marriage rescue’ plan

By Chris Lindsay

Australian authorities might be well advised to consider a US government ‘healthy marriage’ initiative which is designed to help married couples develop the skills and knowledge required to improve or rescue their marriages, says an American expert.

Dr Wade Horn, US assistant secretary for children and families, is in Sydney this weekend to address the second national Catholic family gathering, Living the Dream.

He told The Catholic Weekly from his Washington office that the American initiative is not about interfering in the intimate decision people make to get married.

“It is not about forcing anyone to get married; it is more education based,” he said. “This education approach is based on good research, which shows that what separates a stable marriage from an unstable one, a good marriage from a bad one, is not that the marriage partners have disputes, but how those disputes are resolved.

“A good marriage is about listening to each other with respect. It is about problem solving. The research shows that this produces high levels of marriage satisfaction and low levels of divorce. The research also shows that this can be taught, and such education works.”

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