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 […]

The third in a series on Couples and MarriageResearch and Policy, this brief summarizesthe research on the effects of familystructure on child well-being, discusses someof the complexities of the research, andidentifies issues that remain to be explored.

In this CDA Report, the Fragile Families data are used to calculate how much marriage could reduce poverty among couples who are not married at the time of the child’s birth. This analysis finds that marriage would dramatically reduce poverty among the non-married mothers who are romantically involved with the fathers at the time of […]

Relationship education programs such as Ehevorbereitung–Ein Partnerschaftliches Lernprogramm (Premarital Preparation–A Couples’ Learning Program) and the Relationship Education and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP) can help prevent marital distress among newlyweds. Thus, it is important to understand which couples respond best to the intervention and which couples respond less well. E. A. Schilling, D. H. Baucom, C. […]

This contains the text of Wade Horn’s presentation at the Human Services Policy Center Forum, December 2, 2002 in Seattle, Washington. Dr. Horn outlines what the government should and should not do on the marriage promotion front. Audience questions and Dr. Horn’s answers are included.

One of the limitations of experimental studies on the effectiveness of premarital education is the reliance on samples of mostly White, middle-class couples. In contrast, although survey methods allow only weak inferences about causal relations, representative surveys can yield important information about use and estimated effects across a diverse population. Using a large random survey […]

Policymakers havebecome increasinglyinterested in exploringthe relationshipbetween public benefits rulesand marriage. Do the rulesaffect decisions to stay single,cohabit, or marry? If so, in whatways? Answering these questionsraises complex issues thatare endemic to any system thatprovides benefits on a group(i.e., family) basis rather thanlooking at individual needs. Thecomplexity becomes particularlyacute when eligibility for oramount of a benefit […]