Intervening Earlier: An Upstream Approach to Improving Relationship Quality

Abstract

Relationship quality has far-reaching consequences for health and well-being. To date, large-scale efforts to improve relationship quality have targeted established relationships. However, a novel approach would be to target relationships much earlier. Investment-based programs would intervene (on a voluntary basis) before partners become strongly tied to one another (i.e., within the first few months of “official” dating) and help people to avoid investing in relationships that they might later decide are wrong for them. Selection-based programs would intervene before an official dating relationship has formed, perhaps by helping people to identify especially compatible partners from within their network of friends and acquaintances. To develop such interventions, researchers must (a) identify when important relationship experiences (e.g., perceived responsiveness, capitalization, and sexual satisfaction) become reliably predictive of long-term outcomes and (b) identify how this information could be better incorporated into early relationship decisions. Overall, efforts to facilitate the initial formation and development of high-quality relationships may hold promising, untested potential.