Research continually finds that those who marry live longer, on average, and tend to be healthier than those who never marry, divorce, or become widowed. Marriage has been demonstrated to positively impact wealth attainment, mental health, and social status. While there has been a decline in marriage for the general U.S. population, African Americans have the lowest marriage rates and the highest divorce rate of any other ethnic group. Despite these findings, survey data indicate that African Americans continue to place a high value on marriage as well as desire marriage. A legacy of anti-Black racism, discrimination, and oppression has profoundly shaped the African American family structure and has impacted marriage rates and marriage success. There is a dearth of research and curriculum specifically developed to address the unique factors related to marital satisfaction in African American couples. However, it stands to reason that addressing these factors can contribute to relationship fulfillment and stability among married African American couples. The authors attest to the need for a premarital counseling curriculum for African American heterosexual couples that specifically addresses the unique history of African Americans and the challenges experienced in their marriages.

African American couples experience lower marriage rates and divorce rates than other races. Although there are numerous research studies about strengthening the couples’ relationship, there is limited research on what therapeutic approaches best support African American marriages. Harville Hendrix’s Imago Relationship Therapy is delineated in this chapter to discuss how this counseling method can support the African American couples with relationship conflict. It gives couples the tools to learn how to resolve conflict more effectively and increase communication. Imago Relationship Therapy enables the African American couple to look at their childhood story, increase awareness of their connections, identify their triggers, and decide to move from an unconscious to a conscious one way of relating. Since research indicates that religion is vital to most African American families, Imago Therapy has been adapted to be used in church group settings which can be incorporated into the therapeutic intervention with African American couples. This therapeutic approach utilizes various structured dialogues to increase the African American couples’ knowledge of how to strengthen their relationship and developing healthy relationships.