Alexandra P. Morozova-Perovskaya
Student at the Faculty of Social Sciences of National Research University Higher School of Economics, enrolled in the Master’s programme "Systemic Family Therapy"
Moscow, Russia
apperovskaia@edu.hse.ru+7 926 222 02 01
Key words: written family agreements, secure attachment, couple relationships, psychological marriage contract, written psychotherapeutic practices
AbstractThe study focuses on developing and testing a communication training program for creating written family agreements as a tool for strengthening couple attachment. A socio-demographic survey (N=176) revealed a paradox: 73% of respondents are interested in written agreements, but only 33% implement them in practice. Couples with experience inwritten agreements demonstrate a statistically significant reduction in conflict. The program integrates written psychotherapeutic techniques (Pennebaker, 1997) with the concept of psychological marriage contract (Sager, 1981) and attachment theory principles (Johnson, 2019). Written form creates emotional safety for self-disclosure, reduces reactivity through cognitive distance, and forms predictability of interaction — key components of secure attachment.