Designed for marriage practitioners, this brief explains the importance of commitment in marriage. Strategies that can be shared with couples to enhance their commitment are listed and include: create a commitment statement, greet each other personally and physically each day, talk and stay connected about hopes, dreams, and stresses, spend both quality and quantity time […]
These remarks to the World Congress of Families in 1999 discuss the importance of marriage to the well-being of children. It cites statistics that link out-of-wedlock childbearing and higher rates of infant mortality and note the rise in welfare children placed in foster care, decline in marriage, rise in divorce, and rise in cohabiting couple […]
This brief defines forgiveness and then explains the difficulties facilitators may encounter when teaching forgiveness in marriage and relationship (MRE) education classes. Strategies that can be shared with couples are listed and include: reflect on your mutual behaviors during the day and focus on actions that are life-giving and kind, spend little time reflecting on […]
This article highlights a survey conducted by the Center for Marriage and Family at Creighton University on problem areas during the first five years of married couples in the United States. Reality of divorce in the country; Profiles of the respondents of the survey; Details of the problem areas of married couples; Discussion on the […]
Designed for marriage practitioners, this brief explains the influence of maturity on a person’s ability to truly commit to a relationship for life and understand that commitment implies giving up all other partner choices. The impact of maturity on the ability to forgive, to take personal responsibility, and to communicate effectively is also discussed, and […]
“”Connections: Relationships and Marriage”” is one of a number of high school marriage education curricula designed to teach students to develop healthy relationships and marriages. This study evaluates the effectiveness of this curriculum with 375 students from rural Midwest high schools who were in either the Connections group or in another Family and Consumer Sciences […]
Designed for marriage practitioners, this brief explains the importance of trust in relationships and offers strategies for teaching the value of trust to couples. The keys to trust are explained and include investing time in each other, reliability, understanding, sacrifice, and thankfulness.
The United States federal government releases data on rates of marriage and divorce in most years, along with information on the percentage of children living with two parents and single parents. Stories based on these statistics often appear in the media. Many people, however, are confused by these data–how these numbers should be interpreted and […]
Men and women who are incarcerated face substantial challenges to maintaining their family relationships, both intimate and parenting. These difficulties continue as they reenter into society after their incarceration. Absence from or low levels of contact between partners due to incarceration places strain on marriages and serious romantic relationships. Parental absence due to incarceration can […]
This brief explains that faith-based marriage promotion and education programs incorporate tenets of religious faith into operating principles regarding issues of marriage and family life. Key components of the programs are described and specific programs are profiled, including: Marriage Savers, Catholic Engaged Encounter, PAIRS, PREP, Reconciling God’s Way, the Third Option, the Caring Couples Network, […]