%0 Journal Article
%T Do relationship education programs reduce relationship aggression? A meta-analytic study
%J Clinical psychology review
%D 2023
%A Karantzas, Gery C.
%A Curtis, Ashlee
%A Knox, Laura
%A Staiger, Petra K.
%A Head, Travis
%A Toumbourou, John W.
%A Gruenert, Stefan
%A Romano, Daniel A.
%A Miller, Peter G.
%V 104
%N 
%P e102285-e102285
%X There is an increasing focus on evaluating the effectiveness of Relationship Education (RE) programs on reducing relationship aggression. Nevertheless, there has been little by way of a systematic quantitative synthesis of research to date. The primary aim of this research was to conduct a meta-analysis into the effects of RE programs on relationship aggression and provide a comprehensive assessment as to the moderating effects of various methodological characteristics of studies. A secondary aim was to determine whether RE programs reduce negative aspects of relationship functioning that are known to exacerbate relationship aggression. Thirty-one studies (n = 25,527) were included comprising of pre-post comparison studies and control trials. Overall, RE programs were significantly associated with reductions in relationship aggression (d = 0.11, p = .001). Pre-post studies yielded a significantly larger effect size (d = 0.28, p < .001) than RCT studies (d = 0.05, p = .10). Subgroup analysis revealed that participants who reported moderate to severe relationship aggression upon RE program entry demonstrated large reductions in physical (d = 0.66, p = .01) and psychological (d = 0.85, p < .001) aggression compared to those who reported minimal to low relationship aggression on entry (physical aggression d = 0.07, p = .009; psychological aggression d = -0.04; p = .17). Amongst participants who reported moderate to severe relationship aggression, RE programs were also found to reduce controlling behavior (d = 0.20, p < .01) and conflict behavior (d = 0.40, p < .001). <br><br>FINDINGS demonstrate the emerging efficacy of RE programs for reducing relationship aggression and conflict behavior, particularly in those with a history of moderate to severe levels of relationship aggression.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
%G en
%I Elsevier Publishing
%@ 0272-7358
%U http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2023.102285