Relationship Enhancement

Romantic relationships that thrive possess specific values that provide safety and security to each partner. Partners also behave in ways that foster deep emotional connection and intimacy. The behaviors or rituals that happily committed couples engage in are considered relationship enhancement practices. Selecting a mate is a significant life task for most humans. The desires to share one’s life with someone else, possibly reproduce, and grow old with someone are nearly universal. There are many opportunities online and in the popular media to either engage in or witness the pairings of single young adults. Media images penetrate the minds of individuals young and old, shaping and perhaps distorting perceptions of what lasting relationships can look like.

Relationship enhancement is an approach to developing realistic relationship expectations along with skills for maintaining long-term intimate relationships. Bernard Guerney and Louise Guerney of Penn State University developed the Center for Couples, Families, and Children in 1992, based on over 40 years of research developing relationship enhancement strategies for work with couples and families. Their Relationship Enhancement model consists of relationship education, as well as a set of core values that couples must engender: commitment to the relationship, mutual respect, acceptance, authenticity, and equity. Relationship education and the aforementioned values included in the Gurneys’ Relationship Enhancement model are discussed throughout and integrated with other suggested strategies that couples can learn to practice, including reframing attributions, incorporating fun, making time for connection, and strengthening communication. These skills serve as a launch pad to reaching the ideal of a long-lasting and highly satisfying intimate relationship.