David Olson dedicated his life to reducing the incidence of divorce and his work was grounded in the system of bridging research, theory, and practice. He joined the Department in 1973 after serving as co-director of a longitudinal study of early marriage and family development at the National Institutes of Mental Health.
His ground-breaking work defined and conduct research around his inventories/measures that assessed satisfaction in several relationship categories to give couples and families insights into their relationship dynamics. One of Olson’s assessments, PREPARE (Premartial Personal and Relationship Evaluation) was proven to predict divorce with an accuracy rate of 80 to 86 percent. His relationship inventories – both for premarital and married couples – became so popular that Olson and his wife Karen founded the company (PREPARE/ENRICH) in 1980 to distribute them. The relationship inventories have been translated into over 12 languages and used by couples and families globally. Another measure, FACES (Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales) has been used in over 1,200 professional research studies.
In 2018, he delivered the FSoS Cornerstone Symposium lecture where he compared the maintenance of intimate relationships to the I-35 bridge collapse.
Olson received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from St. Olaf College, a master’s degree in psychology from Wichita State University, and a Ph.D. in Family Relations and Child Development from Penn State.
