What is Relationship Education?

Relationship education is just what it sounds like: research-based educational resources to help you improve your knowledge and skills about forming and sustaining healthy relationships.

Relationship education takes many forms and is found on many different platforms, from in-person classes that meet for several weeks, to self-paced online classes, to 15-minute online mini-lessons on specific questions, to webinars, podcasts, blogs, text tips, books, social media, videos, and more.

Sometimes relationship education teaches broad general skills for everyone (e.g., communicating more effectively, resolving conflict, deepening understanding of your partner). But other times relationship education is tailored to meet the needs of certain groups of people (e.g., African-Americans, military couples, stepfamilies, etc.) or particular times of the life course (e.g., dating, engaged, transition to parenthood, empty-nests, etc.) or is focused on a specific topic (e.g., enhancing the sexual relationship, managing in-law relationships, etc.).

Relationship education is not counseling or therapy. It provides general relationship guidance based on research rather than analysis of your personal problems and treatments tailored just for you. Relationship education focuses more on preventing relationship problems before they get too big.

A lot of research has shown that relationship education can be effective at increasing relationship knowledge and skills, and can improve the quality of relationships for people in many different circumstances and different times of life. We hope you will explore the many types of relationship education we offer on this website.

_{Markman, H. J., Hawkins, A. J., Stanley, S. M., Halford, W. K., & Rhoades, G. K. (2022). Helping couples achieve relationship success: A decade of progress in couple relationship education research and practice, 2010-2019. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 48, 251-282. https://doi.org/10.1111.jmft.12565}

_{Stanley, S. M., Carlson, R., Rhoades, G. K., Markman, H. J., Ritchie, L., & Hawkins, A. J. (2020). Best practices in relationship education. Family Relations, 69, 497-519. https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12419}