Comparison of the Effectiveness of Positive Psychology Intervention and Existential Therapy on Functional Flexibility, Meaning in Life, and Family Functioning in Conflicted Couples
Keywords:
positive psychology, existential therapy, functional flexibility, meaning in life, family functioning, conflicted couplesAbstract
The present study was conducted with the aim of comparing the effectiveness of positive psychology intervention and existential therapy on functional flexibility, meaning in life, and family functioning in conflicted couples. The research method was quasi-experimental with a pretest–posttest and follow-up design including a control group. The statistical population of this study consisted of all conflicted couples referring to counseling and psychological service centers in District 2 of Tehran in 2026. Using purposive sampling from clients of counseling centers based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria of the study and the scores obtained on the Marital Conflict Questionnaire, 85 couples (170 individuals) were selected, from whom 36 couples (72 individuals) were randomly selected through simple random sampling and randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group. The instruments used in the study included the Marital Conflict Questionnaire by Barati and Sanaei (2000), the Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale (2003), the Meaning in Life Questionnaire by Steger et al. (2006), and the Family Assessment Device by Epstein et al. (1983). Ultimately, data analysis was conducted on 33 couples. Data were analyzed using mixed analysis of variance. The results indicated that both interventions, compared with the control group, had a significant effect on functional flexibility, meaning in life, and family functioning (p < .01). Regarding the variable of functional flexibility, both interventions demonstrated similar and stable effects. However, for the variables of meaning in life and family functioning, existential therapy showed significantly greater effectiveness than positive psychology intervention during the posttest and follow-up stages (p < .0005). The findings suggest that although both approaches are beneficial in reducing marital conflicts, existential therapy, by addressing fundamental existential concepts, may produce deeper and more enduring effects.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Najmiehsadat Mashhadi (Author); Mehryar Anasseri; Maryam Ghahremani , Mahnaz Askarian (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
