This brief uses both quantitative and qualitative data to examine how risk factors such as physical abuse, substance abuse, and incarceration are related to father involvement and relationship status among unmarried couples. The authors also examine how parents’ relationship status and quality mediate the association between fathers’ risk behaviors and involvement with children.

This study critically reviews quantitative methods that have been employed and evidence that has been gathered to assess the benefits of marriage and consequences of other family structures. The study begins by describing theoretical models of the determinants of different well-being outcomes and the role of family structure in producing those outcomes. It also discusses […]

The importance of marriage preparation and premarital counseling has increased in the US recently as the divorce rate continues to remain high. Three comprehensive premarital assessment questionnaires (PAQs) are described, evaluated on their psychometric characteristics, and compared.

The Utah Commission on Marriage believes legislation to encourage engaged couples to participate in formal premarital education will help to increase the number of couples who are better prepared for marriage and will help reduce the state’s divorce rate. This report summarizes the case that government action to encourage more effective marriage preparation is justified […]

In this article, Steven Nock examines the national marriage debate. He begins by reviewing thesocial and demographic trends that have changed the role of marriage and the family: the weakening link between marriage and parenthood caused by the contraceptive revolution, the declining significance of marriage as an organizing principle of adult life, and the increasingly […]

This paper extends previous work on premarital childbearing by modeling both the entry rates and the exit rates of unwed motherhood among young American women. In particular, the impact of economic resources on the likelihood of experiencing a premarital birth and then of subsequent marriage is investigated. Using a multiple-destination, multiple-spell hazard regression model and […]

During the past century the U.S. family system has seen vast changes–in marriage and divorce rates, cohabitation, childbearing, sexual behavior, and women’s work outside the home. Andrew Cherlin reviews these historic changes, noting that marriage remains the most common living arrangement for raising children, but that children, especially poor and minority children, are increasingly likely […]

Past work on the relationship between cohabitation and childbearing shows that cohabitation increases fertility compared to being single, and does so more for intended than unintended births. Most work in this area, however, does not address concerns that fertility and union formation are joint processes, and that failing to account for the joint nature of […]

How have recent changes in U.S. family structure affected the cognitive, social, and emotional well-being of the nation’s children– Paul Amato examines the effects of family formation on children and evaluates whether current marriage promotion programs are likely to meet children’s needs.