This testimony given before the Subcommittee on Social Security and Family Policy of the U.S. Senate, discusses the following components of a healthy marriage: safety in interaction that allows couple to talk openly and well about key issues, with the strongest expressions of such safety including emotional safety and support; personal safety that includes freedom […]

Research supports the anecdotal observation that unmarried mothers and their children face greater obstacles and suffer greater strains than married couples and their children. Much less is known about the specific characteristics of the women who have births outside of marriage. This research brief paints a fuller picture of nonmarital childbearing. The data presented here […]

Eighty-three couples were stratified into groups at high and low risk for relationship distress and randomized to either the Self-Regulatory Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (Self-PREP) or a control condition. As predicted, there were differential effects of Self-PREP on high-risk and low-risk couples. Because of low statistical power, results must be interpreted cautiously, but at […]

A cultural shift is occurring that bodes well forAmerica’s children. After four decades of treating society’s ills with more government spending,elected officials, social scientists, community leaders,and policymakers across the ideological spectrum admit that strong marriages-not government largesse-are key to improving both personal and social well-being. Social science research is showing that children in married families […]

This longitudinal study predicted marital outcome from communication skills gained from participation in the Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP; H. J. Markman, S. L. Blumberg & S. M. Stanley, 1989; Stanley et al., 2001) by 39 women and 38 men. Results were in the expected direction for men but not for women. Men’s pre- […]

In recent years, policymakers have become increasingly interested in exploringthe relationship between public benefits rules and marriage. This interest has, in part,been prompted by social science research findings that, on average, children do bestwhen raised by their two married, biological parents who have a low-conflictrelationship. Interest has also been fueled by claims that marriage enhancement […]

The National Marriage Project commissioned this study to provide an overview of some of the more popular and promising marriage and relationship education programs currently in use. This report is not comprehensive in its scope nor does it offer a scientifically based evaluation of program effectiveness or outcomes. It does not attempt to take up […]

This paper briefly gives the background of marriage-promotion efforts within the context of welfare reform and describes the provisions relating to marriage and family formation in the 2003 and 2002 TANF reauthorization efforts.

This unique survey provides detailed information on marriage and divorce in Utah where national data fall short. Specifically, this survey gives precise representative results of the current status of marriage and divorce in Utah, including marital quality. The findings in this report have implications ranging from programs for marriage education to public policies that support […]