The Effect of Happiness Training on Students' Marital Satisfaction

Happiness, cheerfulness, and a positive attitude toward life events play a prominent role in marital satisfaction can significantly contribute to creating a sense of security and optimism for couples. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of happiness training on students' marital satisfaction.

This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 64 students at Gonabad University of Medical Sciences in Iran. Participants were selected using a systematic sampling method and were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups using permuted blocks of size 4. The happiness training intervention consisted of six 2-hour sessions, conducted once a week by a psychiatric nurse exclusive for the intervention group. A demographic form and the Enrich Scale were used before and after the intervention in both groups. The data were analyzed using SPSS software, including descriptive statistics and analytical statistical tests such as chi-square and paired t-tests. The significance level was determined to be less than 0.05.

The comparison of mean marital satisfaction between the two groups did not show a significant difference before the intervention (P = 0.630). However, the mean marital satisfaction after the intervention had a statistically significant difference (P < 0.001). Comparing the mean marital satisfaction before and after the intervention in the intervention group revealed a significant difference (P < 0.001), but this difference was not significant in the control group (P = 0.520).

The results indicate that happiness training has a practical impact on the marital satisfaction of married students. An important step to reduce marital conflicts and increase couple's satisfaction is to hold workshops focused on happiness training.