Marriage/relationship education (MRE) programs are uniquely positioned to identify risk for abuse and to promote healthy and safe relationships. Domestic violence (DV) or intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pervasive and costly problem. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 4.8 million episodes of IPV occur every year in the United States […]
The percentage of children under the age of 18 who live with two parents decreased steadily for several decades (from approximately 85% in 1970 to approximately 68% by the mid-1990s1). Beginning in the mid-1990s, this decrease leveled off and the proportion of U.S. children who live with two married parents has since remained at approximately […]
Table of Contents Introduction Definitions and Acronyms Emergence of Public Interest in Marriage and Divorce Statistics and Family Trends Government and Academic Reports Historical Trends in Family Formation Recent Statistics and Trends in Family Formation Data on Family Formation According to Race/Ethnicity Collection and Quality of Divorce and Marriage Statistics at National, State and Local […]
Group Size: 10 or more (depends on space available) Time Needed: 10 to 15 minutes Goal: To help group get to know each other (great for first day introductions!) Audience: Couples, Singles, Parents, Teens, Children Special Considerations: Consider the education levels of your group members before you pick this activity. This activity is very loud. […]
In May 2009, the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center (NHMRC) and the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence (NRCDV) co-sponsored the conference “”Toward a Common Understanding: Domestic Violence Typologies and Implications for Healthy Marriage and Domestic Violence Programs”” at the Airlie Conference Center in Warrenton, Virginia. The conference brought together a diverse set of 35 […]
This research brief explores the effects of marital quality on health. It begins by citing research that getting married and being married is linked to many positive physical and mental health outcomes. Reasons for the link between marriage and good health are then explored, including the “”selection effect”” that occurs when people who are inherently […]
This brief reviews trends in family structure in the United States and implications for children, adults, and society. Data is shared on rates of divorce, nonmarital births, and nonmarital cohabitation. Statistics are cited that indicate the probability of marriages ending in divorce increased more or less continuously until 1990 and then stabilized; between 43% and […]
There is a large spectrum of government services and programs that can be included in healthy marriage programs. The natural and immediate thoughts go to the human services field; however, there are many other areas that offer opportunities for healthy marriage/relationship programs. These include corrections and criminal justice, juvenile justice, health programs (including Medicaid and […]
This brief explains the Healthy Marriage (HM) field that has its roots in marriage and relationship research and education in the 1950s and 1960s. The promotion of marriage and the reduction of out-of-wedlock childbearing as federal policy goals under the welfare reform legislation in 1996 is discussed, as well as the launch of the national […]
In the late 1990s, a handful of states began to fund healthy marriage and relationship (HMR) programs and initiatives intended as a promising new strategy for strengthening families and improving child well-being. The states were soon followed by the federal government, which launched a healthy marriage initiative in 2002. The following questions initially were raised […]