Extending the reach of couple relationship education programs through the use of message framing

Research on the relationship between persuasion and couple relationship education (CRE) has been very limited. The present study aimed to investigate the effect message framing had on altering young people’s intention to participate in the READY program (An inventory-based CRE). The study extended previous research by incorporating the risk level of individuals in having a dissatisfying relationship and the potential moderating effect temporal context had on message framing. The results revealed that the risk level of the individuals would influence the way they respond to the framed messages. Low risk individuals who viewed a loss-framed message had a higher intention in completing READY compared to low risk individuals who viewed a gain framed message. High risk individuals did not respond to either message. However, message framing did not significantly increase the participant’s intention to do READY.