Pareja y bienestar en jóvenes de la generación Millennial: un programa de educación emocional para unas relaciones afectivas saludables

Introduction. Youth is a period where difficulties related to adaptation to adult roles may arise. Specifically, young people of the Millennial generation have to adapt to a particularly complicated sociohistorical context, which could have an impact on their well-being. One of the variables that has been widely associated with well-being is social support, such as romantic relationships. In turn, the quality of this romantic bond is closely related to personal variables such as attachment styles and emotional competencies. The main objective of this research was to promote the well-being of young people of the Millennial generation through the development of emotional abilities and couple adjustment skills. To this end, four specific objectives were proposed: (1) to understand the psychological characteristics of the sample, attending to gender differences; (2) to analyze the relationship between personal and couple variables at the intrapersonal level, conducting an individual study; (3) to analyze the impact of certain personal variables on couple variables (and vice versa) at the interpersonal level, conducting a dyadic study; and (4) to study the benefits of an emotional education program for couples designed for the present research. Method. A total of 192 young adults of the Millennial generation (96 couples) between 18 and 37 years old (born between 1982 and 1999; M = 23.42; SD = 4.05) participated in the study. Personal (sociodemographic and attachment), emotional (emotional competencies, intrapersonal and interpersonal emotional regulation with the couple), couple (adjustment), well-being (life satisfaction, affect and somatic complaints) and valuation variables of the program were studied. The present investigation was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Valencia and followed the ethical principles for human research. The sample used for this study was a convenience sample, the study design was quasi-experimental and mixed method. The participants and their partners completed the survey online. Considering those couples who voluntarily agreed to participate in the intervention program, half were assigned to the experimental group and half to the control group. Both groups answered a pre-test and post-test assessment. The intervention consisted of participating in an emotional education program for couples. The program had a duration of seven sessions, with approximately 4-5 couples per group. The main objective of the program was to develop emotional competencies, particularly emotional regulation. In addition, we worked on strengthening a healthy bond, focusing on attachment, communication, conflict management and other positive development variables. In order to achieve the objectives, the program used an experiential methodology based on meaningful learning. To respond to the hypotheses, different analyses were carried out: (1) reliability analyses; (2) descriptive analyses; (3) Student's t-tests; (4) Pearson's bivariate correlations; (5) Actor-Partner Interdependence Models (APIM); (6) Analysis of Variance and Covariance (ANOVA and ANCOVA); and (8) inter-rater agreement indexes (kappa and delta) and frequency analysis. Results. The results indicated that women present significantly more negative affect and somatic complaints than men. Likewise, well-being was negatively related to attachment insecurity variables, and positively related to emotional competencies and couple adjustment. As for emotional competencies, lack of emotional control and emotional management were associated with subjective well-being with higher effect sizes. From the interdependence analyses performed in dyads, it could be highlighted that couple adjustment was influenced by different variables according to gender. In the case of women, their perception of couple adjustment was affected, first, by their own variables (attachment anxiety and avoidance, emotional expression/labeling, emotional management/regulation, emotional rejection, lack of emotional control, and their own interpersonal emotional regulation skills with their partner) and, second, by certain variables of their male partners (attachment anxiety, emotional inattention, emotional confusion, and ability to ask about emotions). The variable that best predicted women's couple adjustment was the emotional inattention of their male partners, explaining 27.6% of its variance. In the case of men, their perception of partner adjustment was affected, on the one hand, by their own variables (attachment anxiety and avoidance, emotional expression/labeling, emotional inattention, emotional rejection, and their own interpersonal emotional regulation skills with their partner) and, on the other hand, by certain variables of their female partners (attachment anxiety, emotional management/regulation, interpersonal ability to validate and calm emotions). The variable that best predicted men's couple adjustment was their own ability to observe their partner's emotions, explaining 40.7% of its variance. Regarding the intervention, it was observed that the program was effective in reducing attachment avoidance and emotional rejection, and in increasing interpersonal emotional regulation skills and relationship satisfaction. Couple cohesion was reduced significantly. The sessions were rated to be highly useful. In the qualitative analyses it was observed that 84.91% of the participants perceived changes in their relationship after the program: more effective interactions, greater emotional competencies and a healthier bond. Likewise, 40% of the participants learned about the positive development of their relationship, 36.67% acquired emotional competencies and 23.33% developed their communication skills. Most participants made positive appreciations about the program and its contextual aspects, such as the group atmosphere or the intimacy shared with the partner. Some participants suggested improvements for the program, most of them referring to the characteristics of the intervention room. Discussion. This paper provides new empirical evidence on variables associated with Millennial youth well-being. In addition, a novel intervention program for couples has been designed and implemented to increase emotional competencies and couple adjustment. This contribution is relevant since in this cultural context no programs have been developed yet that focus on emotional education for couples. In addition, limitations of the present research are discussed, such as the sample size and type, the lack of a medium- and/or long-term follow-up assessment, and the possible influence of biases (e.g., inclusion bias, response bias, heterocentrism), among others. One of the possible directions for future research is to extend and diversify the sample to enhance the methodological rigor and to generalize the results. The present research has practical scientific and social implications for different research areas such as psychology, psychotherapy, education and health, among others.