Comparing the Effectiveness of Imago Relationship Therapy and Gottman Method Couple Therapy on Marital Virtues in Couples with Marital Conflict | ||
| فصلنامه پژوهش های نوین روانشناختی | ||
| Volume 21, Issue 82, August 2026 | ||
| Document Type: Research Paper | ||
| DOI: 10.22034/jmpr.2026.69811.6863 | ||
| Authors | ||
| Monir Pourimohammad1; Ali Reza Maredpour* 2; Feizollah Afrazizadeh2 | ||
| 1PhD student, Department of Psychology, Yas.C., Islamic Azad University, Yasuj, Iran | ||
| 2Department of Psychology, Yas.C., Islamic Azad University, Yasuj, Iran | ||
| Abstract | ||
| The purpose of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of imago relationship therapy and couple therapy using the Gottman method on the marital virtues in couples with marital conflict. The research method was a quasi-experimental with a pretest-posttest design and a control group with a three-month follow-up. The statistical population of the study included couples referring to the Erfan Counseling Center in Tehran in 2024. The sample consisted of 30 couples who were selected through convenience sampling and randomly assigned to three groups (10 couples per group). The study used the Marital Virtues Profile (MVP; Fawcett et al., 2013) and the Revised Marital Conflict Questionnaire (MCQ-R; Sanai, 2017). The first experimental group received imago relationship therapy in eight 90-minute sessions, whereas the second experimental group received Gottman therapy in nine 90-minute sessions. For data analysis, repeated measurement variance analysis, SPSS version 25, and significance level of 0.05 was used. The results showed that the relation Imago intervention had a significant effect on the marital virtue and its components (understanding, fairness, forgiveness, sacrifice and admiration) and Guttman's method on total score and three components of marital virtue (admiration, sacrifice, forgiveness). Also, relation Imago intervention in comparison with Guttman's method showed more effectiveness (p < 0.05). According to the results, both interventions were significantly effective in improving marital virtues among couples with marital conflict, but relation Imago had a significant effect on a greater number of components of marital virtues. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| marital conflict; Imago relationship; marital virtue; Gottman couple therapy | ||
| References | ||
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