iRelate: A Comprehensive Approach Empowering Young Marines to Succeed at Intimate Relationships

As a result of the high rate at which young Marines are getting married and divorced, a group of Navy chaplains created a new comprehensive three stage intervention program entitled, Intimate Relationships Awareness, Training, and Enrichment program (iRelate) to address the various relationship needs of the single, engaged, and married Marines. This article presents preliminary program evaluation data for Stage I and Stage II of the iRelate program, with additional data from Marines that are engaged to be married and Marines that were in the process of getting divorced. Results showed, prior to attending Stage I and Stage II of the program, Marines presented with high levels of marriage idealism and overconfidence. Twenty-nine percent stated, because they are Marines, they are capable of taking on adult responsibilities and 32.4 % believed that marriage would require some effort. Of the Marines that were in the process of getting divorced, 40 % indicated that they were too young to be married, 50 % stated if they could do it over again they would have taken more time to get to know their spouse prior to getting married. The post course data indicated that the Marines’ level of idealism and overconfidence decreased, as 63.2 % of the Marines developed a more realistic expectation of marriage, by realizing that marriage will require a lot of hard work. Additionally, Marines felt more prepared for their marriage [t₍₁₇₇₎ = 7.62, p < 0.001, r² = 0.25] suggesting that the program offers a significant benefit to the Marines.