Investigating the Efficacy of the Nine Types Personality (Enneagram) Training on Self-Control of Marriage Applicants

Marriage is a voluntary and conscious relationship that is currently understood as a spouse’s conscious choice. Researches indicate a positive relationship between marital satisfaction and similarity in areas related to personality. Research results indicate that couples who live a normal life together have a higher ability to control themselves and their anger than couples who are about to divorce, leading to living a less stressful life and reducing the number of divorces among them .On that basis, the present study seeks to explain the relationship between personality traits and one of the most important individual characteristics, namely self-control within the Enneagram framework, a theory that defines nine principle personality types and their emotional, perceptual, and behavioral patterns. Analyzing the relationship between self-control and couples' personality traits may ultimately lead to more informed decisions before marriage and prevent divorces resulting from uninformed choices.

The research method was conducted as semi-experimental study with a pre-test-post-test design using a control group. Initially, 40 couples were selected through purposive sampling method from the statistical population, based on entry and exit criteria considering the possible statistical decline and the researchers' recommendation to sample at least 15 people in each group for experimental studies. The statistical population was later declined to 30 couples as predicted, who were randomly placed in two groups of 15 couples each, an experimental group and a control group. The sample consisted of applicants at premarital stage who had visited any of five counseling centers in Isfahan. The experimental group was subjected to 10 Enneagram educational sessions of 90 minutes. Tangney self-control questionnaire (2004) was completed in pre-test and post-test stages with an interval of 45 days. Findings were analyzed using SPSS.

The results of covariance analysis showed that training the nine concepts of personality (Enneagram) was effective on the self-control of premarital applicants on the initial self-control (F = 21.51, P > 0.01), Preventive self- control (F = 73.517, P > 0.01), and Total self-control (F = 21.51, P > 0.01).

The results of the present study can be effective for empowering marriage applicants who do not have knowledge of their personality traits. Also, knowledge of the ways of expressing emotions of each personality type is effective on couples' self-control.