Even before policymakers in Washington began their current welfare-related debate on the role of government in promoting marriage, a number of states and communities had created polices and programs to reduce divorce and strengthen marriage. This brief, the second in a new series from CLASP on Couples and Marriage Policy, describes the surprisingly wide range […]

This article discusses the outcome and process research on couple therapy and integrates the articles special section “”Couples and Couple Therapy”” into the discussion. All tested couple treatments show statistically significant effects relative to control groups, but there are no reliable differences between different theoretical models. Moreover, all tested approaches leave substantial numbers of couples […]

The association between religiosity and marital outcome has been repeatedly demonstrated, but a complete understanding of this relationship is hindered by limitations of theory and method. The purpose of the current study was to test 3 explanatory models by assessing 2 samples of newlywed couples. Findings indicated that religiosity was associated with attitudes toward divorce, […]

Implicit in this debate are assumptions about the nature of relationships between unmarried parents, the extent of economic resources, and the prevalence of domestic violence and related risk factors. This brief uses data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine the characteristics of unmarried couples and, more specifically, to determine what proportion […]

Although much has been learned from cross-sectional research on marriage, an understanding of how marriages develop, succeed, and fail is best achieved with longitudinal data. In view of growing interest in longitudinal research on marriage, the authors reviewed and evaluated the literature on how the quality and stability of marriages change over time. First, prevailing […]

As social science research data and government surveys increasingly show, the decline in marriagesince the 1960s has been accompanied by a rise in a number of serious social problems. Childrenborn out of wedlock or whose parents divorce are much more likely to experience poverty,abuse, and behavioral and emotional problems, have lower academic achievement, and use […]

Using a couple-centered approach, the authors examined assortative mating on a broad range of variables in a large (N = 291) sample of newlyweds. Couples showed substantial similarity on attitude-related domains but little on personality-related domains. Similarity was not due to social homogamy or convergence. The authors examined linear and curvilinear effects of spouse similarity […]

This brief describes the types of adaptation that are already underway in healthy marriage programs to address culturally diverse populations and provides examples. It identifies some of the key issues and challenges involved in making marriage education relevant for and accessible to culturally diverse and economically disadvantaged populations. It begins by explaining the marriage education […]

A long tradition of research and theory on gender, marriage, and mental health suggests that marital status is more important to men’s psychological wellbeing than women’s while marital quality is more important to women’s wellbeing than men’s. These beliefs rest largely on a theoretical and empirical foundation established in the 1970s, but, despite changes in […]