Deployment, and the family separation that accompanies it, are defining experiences of military life. Researchers have studied family separation during deployment in relation to stress, well-being, child behavior problems, declines in marital satisfaction, and attitudes toward reenlistment. When families are unable to successfully adapt to separation, the performance of military members may be undermined. Research […]

This article discusses the rising median age of first marriages from the 1890s to the present: almost 26 for women and almost 28 for men. Reasons people are marrying later are explored, and results from a Gallup telephone poll of about 500 adults are cited that indicate the ideal marrying age has increased to 25 […]

This fact sheet discusses the unique stress a couple feels when a spouse is sent on a combat deployment, tips for writing letters to stay in touch, and coping strategies. Spouses are urged to write on a daily basis and to share difficult situations and problems, develop a daily routine and stick with it, place […]

This brief explores the complications involved in computing the divorce rate in the United States. Reasons for the complications include the federal government’s decision to stop collecting divorce data from States in 1996 and the reliance on the National Center for Health Statistics to publish an annual divorce rate, although several States (including California) do […]

In the last fifteen years, M. Gary Neuman, marital therapist and architect of the Sandcastles Divorce Therapy Program, has helped thousands of couples in crisis. Couples who fight. Who’ve grown apart. Who are stuck in relationships that run more on routine and rancor than love and understanding. What he’s found is that, contrary to popular […]

This research links residence with biological and nonbiological married and unmarried parents to the cognitive achievement and behavioral problems of children aged 3-12, controlling for factors that make such families different. The data were drawn from the 1997 Child Development Supplement to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Achievement differences were not associated with father […]

Divorce is a powerful force in contemporary American family life. Current estimates suggest that between 43 and 50 percent of first-time marriages will end in divorce. Consequently, more than one million U.S. children experience parental divorce each year. The growing number of divorces has profound implications for children, mothers, fathers, and society. The consequences of […]

The evidence is in and it is clear that fathers do matter for the lives of children. Hundreds of studies over the past two decades have consistently demonstrated that fathers have a measureable impact on children. Studies show that infants are positively affected by the interactions and care given by their fathers. Research has also […]

This article warns that affairs can happen in good marriages and urges couples to work on their marriage on a daily basis. Reasons for affairs are explored and the role of personal and environmental vulnerabilities and opportunity are highlighted. The personal responsibility of the person having the affair, and not the spouse, is stressed.

This research brief discusses the growing disconnect between men and families that has been termed the “”male problematic””, factors that have conspired in the modern world to distance men from family life, and the role religion can play in integrating men into families and the lives of their wives and children. To explore how religious […]