Denver Family Development Study, 1980-1992

This study investigated the development of marital distress and examined the effects of preventative approaches to marital discord. One hundred and fifty-six couples planning marriage were recruited for a study of relationship development. Each couple participated in two pre-assessment laboratory sessions during which they completed several self-report measures and engaged in videotaped interaction sessions. Questionnaires focused on relationship satisfaction and expectations; interaction sessions consisted of couples either discussing the most important problem in their own relationship or a hypothetical marital dispute (selected from the Inventory of Marital Conflicts). During half of these interaction sessions, couples used a "communication box" to regulate and rate their interaction. This mechanism forced the participants to take turns speaking and allowed the listener to rate the communication s/he just heard.
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After pre-assessment, eighty-six couples were offered the opportunity to participate in the Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP), which is a 5-week relationship enhancement program focused around communication and problem-solving skills. Thirty-three couples completed the program, nine partially completed the program and 43 declined participation. The thirty-three couples who participated became the experimental group, while the 43 who declined and the 70 who were not offered intervention served as control groups. All couples then participated in a post-assessment laboratory session which included self-report measures and interaction sessions similar to those in the pre-assessment. Participants were followed up every year in the laboratory for the next ten years (or until divorced or separated). Follow-up sessions included self-report measures and interaction tasks similar to those in the pre- and post- assessment phases.
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The Murray Research Archive has 255 videotapes from 63 couples' interaction sessions. The Murray Archive also maintains numeric file data and transcripts of the couple interaction sessions from these 63 couples, and numeric file data from the Interactional Dimensions Coding System (IDCS) data.