The institution that most strongly protects mothers and children from domestic abuse and violent crime is marriage. Analysis of ten years worth of findings from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), which the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has conducted since 1973, demonstrates that mothers who are or ever have been married are far less […]
In the United States today, in almost half of marriages one or both spouses have been marriedbefore. Helping individuals form and sustain healthy remarriages is crucial to strengthening the institution of marriage. Moreover, most remarriages create stepfamilies that involve children. So to improve the lives of children, it is important to help remarriedcouples succeed. Yet, […]
The thesis of this study is that children and adolescents who grow up in intact families are generally less likely to smoke, to drink, or to try illegal drugs than children and adolescents who grow up in non-intact families, which, for the purposes of this paper, are defined as single-parent families, blended or stepfamilies, and […]
This report presents a conceptual framework for interventions that would address the needs and circumstances of unmarried parents and provide relationship skills instruction and knowledge for those who would chose to form and sustain healthy marriages. It builds on research indicating that the period around the time of a child’s birth may represent a critical […]
This report explains how President Bush’s proposed Healthy Marriage Initiative would reduce domestic violence. The initiative would provide $300 million in federal and State Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) money to State-level programs that promote marriage and marriage-skills training, particularly among low-income and fragile families. The report begins by discussing the primary target populations […]
This article investigates the effect of inconsistency between parental marital conflict and disruption on children’s health. Inconsistent situations arise when minimal marital conflict precedes disruption or when marital conflict is high but there is no disruption. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, two alternative hypotheses, the stress vulnerable hypothesis and the stress […]
This brief reviews research on the positive outcomes of marriage compared to alternative household arrangements. Cited data indicates: adolescents in intact families are the least likely to feel depressed compared to those with divorced, step-, cohabiting, or single parents; the national average grade-point scores of children in intact families is 2.98, compared to 2.79 for […]
This article presents the challenges and successes of a university-based empowerment evaluation team as they promoted community-based organizational (CBO) self-evaluation skills through a large community capacity building effort funded by a community foundation. Using a reflective inquiry approach, the team’s approach to empowerment evaluation is discussed, and the how’s, the why’s, and the outcomes of […]
Fact sheet from the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center outlining the trend in birth rates for unmarried women from 1975 to present.
This is the seventh publication in the Couples and Marriage research and policy brief series. It explores how the healthy marriage, responsible fatherhood, and domestic violence communities can work together to promote the well-being of families and children. The brief explains some of the barriers to building bridges between the three communities, and it suggests […]