Medical

Communication

Biosci. Biotech. Res. Comm. 10(3): 365-371 (2017)

Effect of premarital counseling on shyness and

expectations from marriage among medical

science students

Iman Seyyed Moharrami

, Malihe Pashib

*, Anahita Zandi

, Seddigheh Abbaspour

and

Abbas Ghodrati Torbati

MSc Consultant, Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences, Torbat Heydariyeh, Iran

MSc Clinical Psychology, Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences, Torbat Heydariyeh, Iran

MSc Nursing Faculty Member Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences, Torbat Heydariyeh, Iran

MSc Faculty Member, Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences, Torbat Heydariyeh, Iran

Faculty Member Medical University of Torbate Heydariyeh, Torbate Heydariye, Iran

ABSTRACT

The period before from marriage is the one of the sensitive and critical periods in life and also is very in uential

period in preventing marital problems after marriage. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of premarital

Counseling on shyness and expect from marriage among students of Medical Sciences, Torbat Heydariyeh, Iran. This

quasi-experimental study was conducted on 30 single students of Medical Sciences in Torbat Heydariyeh Iran. The

assessment tools was shyness and expect from marriage scales that were complete d in the pre-test and post-test

by participants. The intervention group participated in 8 sessions of premarital Counseling and the control group

received no intervention. Data were analyzed using descriptive and Analytic statistics. The mean age of participants

in control and intervention groups was 19.33±0.61 and 19.92±1.07 years, respectively. There was no signi cantly

different between background variables of two groups (p>0.05). In the control group there was no signi cant differ-

ence in shyness and expect from marriage, before and after the study, but there was a signi cant difference between

two mentioned variables in the intervention group (p<0.05). According to the results, it is suggested that premarital

Counseling used for students before Choice of spouse until to reduce the disturbing factors in spouse selection pro-

cess. Premarital Counseling improves shyness, cynical and idealistic expectations from marriage.

KEY WORDS: PREMARITAL COUNSELING, SHYNESS, MARRIAGE, EXPECT FROM MARRIAGE

365

ARTICLE INFORMATION:

*Corresponding Author:

Received 27

June, 2017

Accepted after revision 27

Sep, 2017

BBRC Print ISSN: 0974-6455

Online ISSN: 2321-4007 CODEN: USA BBRCBA

Thomson Reuters ISI ESC and Crossref Indexed Journal

NAAS Journal Score 2017: 4.31 Cosmos IF: 4.006

reserved.

Online Contents Available at: http//www.bbrc.in/

DOI: 10.21786/bbrc/10.3/5

366 EFFECT OF PREMARITAL COUNSELING ON SHYNESS AND EXPECTATIONS BIOSCIENCE BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

Iman Seyyed Moharrami etal.

INTRODUCTION

Formal legal marriage is a contract that is closed

between men and women and Considers for each person

special place and role (Houlgate, 2017). In recent years

the use of pre-marital counseling program to strengthen

marriage is common. Premarital counseling for couples

preparation and prevent dissatisfaction and failure in

marriage has a signi cant impact and people learn how

to be a successful and stable marriage, so premarital

counseling have aspects of preventive, educational and

therapeutic (Parhizgar etal., 2017). The research shows

that traditional counseling before marriage is not ben-

e ting for married life and had not a positive impact on

the stability of marriage (Moeti etal., 2017).

Premarital period is one of the sensitive and criti-

cal points in life and is a very effective period in the

continuity of life and prevention of marital problems

after marriage (Vural & Temel, 2009). In post marital

period, one of the factors that cause a basic change in

the process of marriage and its path is expect of peo-

ple from marriage, roles and marital needs (Bagarozzi,

2014). According to the  ndings of researchers, having

optimum belief, attitude and expect from marriage is the

best and most important capital in marriage and guar-

antees more happiness of people in the common marital

path. Expects and beliefs of people from marriage affect

the perception of people from each other and probability

of marriage or non-marriage and determination of mar-

riage time (Parrott & Parrott, 2005).

Expectations from marriage is a set of realistic, ideal-

istic and cynical expects that shows the beliefs of people

to triple  elds of marriage namely intimacy, agreement

and equality. expect from marriage shows the expects of

people from the level of intimacy and closeness to the

spouse, type of personality and attractiveness of future

spouse, type of activities inside and outside of family,

and the rate of responsibility and equality of couples in

the affairs related to home and children (Nilforooshan,

Abedi, Ahmadi, & Navidian, 2011). Expectations from

marriage in people in premarital period has a signi cant

relationship with married life and life satisfaction like

the level of intimacy, distance, division of labor, and

the nature of the relationship between husband and wife

with the main family (Holman, 2006). Theoretically, the

primary experiences of the persona and relationships,

whether as the observer of a relationship or participant

in it, has a main role in the formation of expect from

marriage. According to the Bowlby’s attachment theory,

the primary experiences of person in relationship with

the beliefs and expects of people from the next relation-

ships (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007).

The study of expectations from marriage in premari-

tal period is very important so that the researchers in a

study examined and graded the areas of couples prob-

lems and mentioned the unrealistic problems and expect

from marriage and lack of intimacy and interest as the

most important marital problem (Mazlomi, Dolatshahi,

& Nazari, 2010). One of the other important issues that

can affect the decisions of people in marriage is shyness.

Shyness is associated with several distinct behavioral

antecedents and biological correlates across develop-

ment, including early behavioral inhibition and neu-

roendocrine dysregulation, (Poole etal., 2017).

Shyness has become the main concern of different

societies during the recent years and has become an

important issue, so that it has led the researchers toward

understanding this problem (Koydemir & Demir, 2008).

Shyness is considered as a kind of social anxiety that

is de ned with the features like anxiety in front of an

audience, distress and worry and shyness from being

seen by others (Botvin & Kantor, 2000). Paying too much

attention to the words and behaviors of oneself and fear

of interaction with others, fear of not being con rmed

by others and worry of being judged is the main features

of shy people. These people make conditions stressful

and while being exposed to new situations or new peo-

ple with illogical and automatic thoughts and usually

avoid asking questions or even answering the questions

of others (Shahri etal., 2014).

The study results of Afrooz show that the increase

of the people who have problem in relationships with

others, those who have fear of social contacts and are

shy, the young people who do not know what to say and

how behave when they enter a group, sense of inabil-

ity to talk to people and lack of cooperation with them,

depression and social isolation and  nally rejection

by society (Afroz, 2002). Studies show personality and

therefore also shyness is in uenced by various sociode-

mographic variables, social roles and important events,

which affect stability and lead to changes in personality

(Van Zalk, Lamb, & Jason Rentfrow, 2017). Also Poole,

Van Lieshout & Schmidt believe emerging evidence sug-

gests that con icted shyness (combination of shyness

and sociability) places individuals at risk for maladjust-

ment in childhood, adolescence, and emerging adult-

hood (Poole, Van Lieshout, & Schmidt, 2017).

Since expectations from marriage is one of the most

important factors to guarantee post marital satisfac-

tions and on the other hand shy people are susceptible

to make wrong decisions for marriage, without a doubt

these two areas of evaluation have an important role in

the guarantee of right decisions for marriage. For this

purpose, today it is attempted to use the premarital pro-

grams for single people. Premarital counseling is a new

approach that presents some education in order to pre-

vent the post marital dissatisfaction (Salarvand, Bahri,

Heidary, & Khadive, 2011).

BIOSCIENCE BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS EFFECT OF PREMARITAL COUNSELING ON SHYNESS AND EXPECTATIONS 367

Iman Seyyed Moharrami etal.

The experts of family area are suing about the ef -

ciency of premarital counseling and teach people how

to have a successful and durable married life (Fathzadeh

etal., 2008). To  nal purpose of premarital counseling is

to help the strength and stability of marriage, the reduc-

tion of divorce rate and promotion of marriage quality.

Premarital counseling program with the study of effec-

tive factors in successful marriage and the role of these

factors in the supply of adjustment and marital life sat-

isfaction deal with some approaches to select the appro-

priate spouse and successful marriage and also prevent

frustration in married life and study of its dimensions

and factors through the mutual understanding of

spouses, understanding the needs of both sides, mutual

understanding, love, kindness and mutual commitment

(MirMohammad Sadeghi, 2010). Although the effective-

ness of premarital counseling to promote the level of

life has been examined but its effect on expect from

marriage and shyness of single students has been les

studied. Thus, the present study aims to investigate the

effect of premarital counseling on shyness and expect

from marriage among students of Medical Sciences, Tor-

bat Heydariyeh, Iran.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The present study was a quasi-experimental interven-

tion with pre-test, post-test and control group. The sta-

tistical population includes all single and new arrival

students of Torbat Heydarieh university of medical sci-

ences in 1394 (n=110). After taking the licenses from

Torbat Heydarieh university of medical sciences and

taking conscious consent of the participants, 30 single

students were selected by random-strati ed method and

were placed in the intervention group and control group

(groups of 15) by random allocation method. The inclu-

sion criteria of participants to the study were gaining

high score and very low score in the scale of expect from

marriage and gaining a score more than 67 in shyness

test. At the beginning of the study, the scale of expect

from marriage and shyness scale was completed by the

participants of intervention group and control group.

Premarital counseling was performed in 8 sessions of

2 hour for the intervention group. During this time, the

control group did not receive any education. The sum-

mary of activities in intervention sessions are as follows:

The  rst session; teaching concepts familiar, attrac-

tive, familiar theories, advantages and limitations of

familiarity, ten mistakes in the process of dating and

matchmaking.

Second session; Training love triangle theory, the ele-

ments of love, the effect of the issue on love, choose love

and complete un nished love children and facilitate

donors.Third session; Life skills training including asser-

tiveness skills, effective communication skills, asser-

tiveness, stress management, anger management, etc.

Fourth Session; Training process of mate selection, right

and wrong reasons to marry, false expectations of mar-

riage, people who are not suitable for marriage, person-

ality disorder and inappropriate for marriage, good rela-

tionships that are not marriage, married warning signs,

criteria of successful marriage. Fifth Session; De ning

engagement, the marriage, the difference candidate with

familiarity, forced marriage, commitment concepts, bor-

ders and boundaries, and the time of engagement. Sixth

Session; the Marriage period, de nition of marriage

period, difference between marriage and engagement,

requirements and functions of marriage period. Seventh

session; Issues related to family, wife, threads between

family, family issues related to the main economic issue,

dowry, dowry, etc., division of labor in the process of

marriage and expectations associated with these con-

ditions and preparing participants for sessions. Eighth

Session; Informing students about early marriage and its

challenges, build con dence, balance between the need

for af liation and need for independence, competitors,

marriage, having children and sessions. After the end

of training secessions, the participants of intervention

and control groups completed the questionnaires again.

The measurement tool was the standard questionnaire

of Jones and Nelson expect from marriage and Stanford

shyness.

Marriage expectation scale (MES) includes 40 items

and 3 sub scales of cynical expect, realistic expects and

idealistic expects. Its scoring range was graded accord-

ing to Likert 5-point scale as totally disagree with 1 to

totally agree with 5. The minimum score in this scale

is 40 and maximum score is 200. Lower scores show

cynical expect from marriage and higher scores show

idealistic expect from marriage. Average scores show

realistic expects (Nilforooshan et al., 2011). Jones and

Nelson reported the reliability of questionnaire for the

total scale by Cronbach’s Alpha as 0.79 to 0.80 and

Dilon as 0.80 (Dillon, 2005; Jones & Nelson, 1997). The

reliability of this questionnaire in the present study was

obtained as 0.74.

Stanford shyness scale includes 40 items that was

made in Stanford University and measures the shyness

of people. Stanford shyness scale is in all questions with

Likert 4-point scale including never (code 1), sometimes

(code 2), often (code 3), and always (code 4). The mini-

mum score is 40 and maximum score is 160. The score

from 40 to 60 shows low shyness. 67 to 100 average

shyness and more than 100 shows high shyness. In the

study of Najaf Abadi etal., the validity of shyness was

0.74 and its reliability was obtained as 0.87 by Cron-

bach’s Alpha method ( Najaf Abadi etal., 2013). In the

368 EFFECT OF PREMARITAL COUNSELING ON SHYNESS AND EXPECTATIONS BIOSCIENCE BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

Iman Seyyed Moharrami etal.

present study, the reliability of the tool was con rmed

as 0.77 for Cronbach’s Alpha. The statistical data of the

study were analyzed by using SPSS statistical software

version 21.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The man age of participants in the control group was

19.33±0.61 and in intervention group was 19.92±1.07. In

the control group 7 subjects (47.7%) and in intervention

group 6 subjects (40%) were women. The frequency of

medical emergencies was 5 subjects (33.3%), midwifery

7 subjects (46.7%) and anesthesiology was 3 subjects

(6.7%) that this number is equal in both groups of con-

trol and experimental. In terms of economic status, the

maximum frequency was related to average economic

status with 10 subjects (66.7%) in control group and 8

subjects (53.3%) in the experimental group. The use of

Chi-2 statistical tests for the variables of gender, eco-

nomic status, education and independent T-test for age

showed that there is not a signi cant difference between

the mentioned variables in the two groups of control

and experimental (p>0.05). It means that the two groups

were homogenous in terms of the mentioned variables.

To compare the amount of shyness between the two

groups of control and intervention before and after

intervention, the Mann–Whitney test was used. This test

did not show any signi cant difference between the two

groups before intervention in terms of shyness in stu-

dents. (p=0.96) But after the intervention, there was a

signi cant difference between the two studied groups

in terms of shyness (p=0.01). To study the two groups

before and after the intervention of the Wilcoxon test

was used. The results show that in the control group

after the intervention, there was no statistically signi -

cant difference in the degree of shyness (p=0.31). But

there was a statistically signi cant difference in inter-

vention group (p=0.01). So that at the beginning of

the study, 4 subjects had severe shyness (26.7%) and 9

subjects had average shyness (60%) in the experimental

group but after the intervention, the number of shyness

reduced to 0 subjects (0%) and average shyness reduced

to 6 subjects (40%) (Table 1).

The second hypothesis of the present study claimed

the signi cant difference between the intervention group

and control group in terms of expect from marriage. The

obtained score of any sub scale, the relevant questions

were added together and since the score range for each

sub scale is different, each range was considered as 0

to 100 for the better understanding of scores range. The

results of kolmogrov-smirnov showed that expect from

marriage and its sub scales (realistic expects, cynical

expects, idealistic expects) are normal in the control and

experimental group before and after the intervention

(p>0.05). Accordingly, the parametric tests were used for

analysis.

The results of independent t-test showed that the

intervention and control group had no signi cant dif-

ference at the beginning of the study in terms of the

score of expect from marriage (p>0.05). It shows the

assimilation of sample in the two groups according to

the intended variables, but these were a signi cant dif-

ference after the performance of premarital counseling

for intervention group (p<0.05) (Table 2).

To study the two groups before and after the inter-

vention, the Paired t-test was used. The results of paired

T-test showed that the mean score of expect from mar-

riage in students after holding premarital sessions in

intervention group (p<0.05). This difference was not

seen in the control group. (p>0.05) (Tables 3, 4 and 5).

According to the obtained results, premarital coun-

seling has a signi cant effect on the shyness of students.

Bashirpoor etal in a study compared the effect of group

counseling with cognitive – behavioral approach and

existential approach on the decrease of shyness in stu-

dents. Both approaches had a signi cant effect on the

shyness of male students but in their study, the interven-

Table 1. The comparison of shyness between the participants before and after the

intervention in the two groups of control and experimental

Variable time Variable classes Control Experimental

shyness

Before intervention

Weak 1(6.7) 2 (13.3)

0.96, z=-0.05

Average 11 (73.3) 9 (60)

Severe 3 (20) 4 (26.7)

After intervention

Weak 2 (13.3) 9 (60)

0.01, z=-2.7

Average 11 (73.3) 6 (40)

Severe 2 (13.3) 0 (0)

P-value

0.31, z=-1 0.01, z=2.49

Values are expressed as N (%).

Mann-Whitney test results

Wilcoxon test results

BIOSCIENCE BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS EFFECT OF PREMARITAL COUNSELING ON SHYNESS AND EXPECTATIONS 369

Iman Seyyed Moharrami etal.

Table 2. The comparison of the mean score of realistic expect from marriage in

participants before and after intervention in the two groups

variable time Control experimental

Realistic expects

Before intervention 51.17±7.46 49.31±6.21 0.46, t=-1.67

after intervention 49.31±7.39 68.23±14.10 <0.001, t=-2.72

P-value

0.08, t=1.47 <0.001, t=4.56

Values are expressed as mean (SD).

Independent t-test results

Paired t-test

Table 3. The comparison of the mean score of idealistic expect from marriage in

participants before and after intervention in the two groups

variable time Control experimental

Idealistic expects

Before intervention 70.95±15.06 75.83±14.33 0.46, t=-0.9

after intervention 73.45±12.51 59.16±18.38 0.02, t=-2.40

P-value

0.09, t=-1.78 0.006, t=3.25

Values are expressed as mean (SD).

Independent t-test results

Paired t-test

Table 4. The comparison of the mean score of cynical expect from marriage in

participants before and after intervention in the two groups

variable time Control experimental

Cynical expects

Before intervention 65±13.65 73.6±9.02 0.06, t=3.25

after intervention 57.73±8.86 45±8.01 <0.001, t=-6.21

P-value

=0.09, t=-1.76 <0.001, t=4.29

Values are expressed as mean (SD).

Independent t-test results

Paired t-test

Table 5. The comparison of the mean score of general expect from marriage in

participants before and after intervention in the two groups

variable time Control experimental

Expects from marriage

Before intervention 54.41±24.11 65.91±11.22 0.13, t=-1.56

after intervention 61.41±11.54 54.29±4.81 p<0.001, t=-4.22

P-value

0.1, t=1.64 0.03, t=2.2

Values are expressed as mean (SD).

Independent t-test results

Paired t-test

tion method of group counseling was cognitive-behav-

ioral and existential while in the present study the inter-

vention method was premarital counseling (Bshirpoor,

Salimibejestani, & Farahbakhsh, 2013). Also, Rahmani

and BaniAsadi in a study examined the effectiveness

of teaching non-verbal relationship on the shyness of

students and the obtained results showed that these

educations have decreased the shyness of students in

physiological and behavioral dimensions. However, the

intervention method in the study of Rahmani et al. was

different from the present study (Rahmani & BaniAsadi,

2013).

To explain the obtained results, the attitude of Gudarzi

etal can be mentioned. They believe that the science of

life skills education as a preventive method can have

positive and useful effects on the increase of emotion

control, coping with stress, high self-con dence, and

increase of self-concept, increases of self-esteem, better

problem solving and interpersonal con icts that lead to

the reduction of shyness (Goudarzi, MakvandHosseini,

Rezai, & Blotbngan, 2013).

In the present study, one of the discussions that

were taught in sessions with students was teaching

life skills such as establishing effective relationships,

Iman Seyyed Moharrami etal.

370 EFFECT OF PREMARITAL COUNSELING ON SHYNESS AND EXPECTATIONS BIOSCIENCE BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

self-assertion, stress management and assertiveness and

this education can be effective in the reduction of shy-

ness in students. People attend the society with more

self-con dence when they are equipped with social skills,

so they create successful relationships and this success

increases their self-con dence and anxiety to attend

in front of an audience (Dokanei Fard, 2007). Mahruz

Yadak and Hatami also con rmed the effect of teaching

life skills on shyness and believe that people can make

better decisions and cope with emotions like fear, anger,

shyness or sadness in an appropriate way when they are

equipped with these teachings (Mehroz Yadak & Hatami,

2010). Also, premarital counseling improved the cynical

and idealistic expects in most students. According to the

results of the present study, premarital counseling could

reduce cynical and idealistic expects and increase realis-

tic expects. Before the intervention, the average realistic

expects of students was low but after premarital coun-

seling, the average realistic expects increased and this

result was useful. The average cynical expects of stu-

dents was high before the intervention and signi cantly

decreased after the intervention. Also, the average ideal-

istic expects of the intervention group had a signi cant

difference before and after the intervention and this dif-

ference was not observed in the control group that did

that did not receive any intervention.

The results of this study are in line with the study of

Omidvar et al. they examined the effect of premarital

Counseling on expects from marriage of students and

the results showed that the counseling have a signi -

cant effect on expects from marriage (Omidvar, Fate-

hiZadeh, & Ahmadi, 2009). Also, Sharp and Ganeng in

their study proved the effect of systematic education on

unrealistic and romantic expects of university students

and showed that the students signi cantly adjusted

their unrealistic and romantic expects due to education

(Sharp & Ganong, 2000). To explain the obtained result,

the content of the sessions of the present study can be

mentioned. In the present study, one of the issues that

were studied in group sessions was the issues that were

studied in group sessions was the study of the role of

wife and husband, expect of participants in the study

from their future spouse, expects and objectives of par-

ticipants from marriage and creating family. Negative

reasons for marriage including space away from inap-

propriate family environment, economic problems and

positive reasons for marriage like the need to love and

intimacy, being parent and the need to accompany were

clari ed. The subjects were explained that cynical or

unrealistic expects lead to frustration and the frustra-

tion due to the non-satis ed expects causes anger, and

dissatisfaction from marital life (Ghahari, 2012).

Counseling can be a reason for the changes of ide-

alistic and cynical expects from marriage. Also, in ses-

sions, the technique of exploration was used to clarify

the meaning of expect from marriage in people and

their beliefs. The double standard technique was used

to change the wrong expects. So that, the participants

were asked: what will you say if your close friend has a

similar selection like you and rely on his/her spouse to

meetall his/her expects?

Double standard technique makes people look at their

problem in such a way as if it is the problem of someone

else. Though this method, the participants found that

expects from marriage is unrealistic. In general, premar-

ital counseling led to the improvement of shyness and

expect from marriage.

CONCLUSION

According to the study results, it is suggested that pre-

marital counseling is used before the selection of spouse

in order to reduce nuisance factors in the process of

choosing spouse. Premarital counseling could reduce

shyness, idealistic and cynical expects from marriage by

providing information on the  eld of risky marriages,

relationships before marriage, barriers of appropriate

process of information, teaching how to identify cog-

nitive distortions and methods of challenging the false

beliefs and effective relationships.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors sincerely appreciate all those involved

in this research, especially Deputy of Education and

Research of Torbat Heydarieh University of Medical Sci-

ences who helped us with  nancial support (Research

Project Code 34.2).

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

The authors declare that there are no con icts of inter-

ests regarding the publication of this article.

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