Research has demonstrated that soldier retention rates, overall satisfaction with military life, and healthy coping methods are all affected by the soldier’s marital and family life satisfaction. Still, marital conflict, in general, and domestic violence, more specifically, tends to be prevalent among military families. Since 1999, the Building Strong and Ready Families (BSRF)program has provided […]

The current study compared cardiovascular risk profiles and trajectories (i.e., within-person changes) of women who were married or cohabitating and who had high relationship satisfaction with those of women with moderate or low satisfaction and with those of women who were single, divorced, and widowed. Participants were 493 women from the Healthy Women Study, a […]

Marital discord is one of society's most common and urgent problems. The destructive outcomes of marital discord have been documented with the 50 percent (Cherlin, 1992) to 67 percent (Martin & Bumpass, 1989) divorce rate for first married couples. Evidence also exists that many couples, who do stay married, continue their marriages in distressed and […]

This paper presents progress to date on a review examining how marriage and relationship programs–defined as programs to improve the relationship between two people involved romantically–affect the quality of couples’ relationships. This is an important issue given changes in the past several decades in marriage and divorce rates, the rise of single parenting, and the […]

After explaining why Oklahoma should be fertile ground for faith-based social service initiatives, this paper explores the challenges Oklahoma is having partnering with faith-based organizations (FBOs). Oklahoma’s complicated social welfare system and political culture is described, including constitutional limitations that hamper the State’s ability to confront social service issues in a coherent fashion. The overhaul […]

This paper comments on three studies that explored influences on couple relationships. One study has an ethnographic focus (Edin, England, and Linnenberg), another combines large sample survey research with ethnographic methods (Cherlin, Burton, Hurt, and Purvin), and the third relies on large sample methods using complex econometric analyses (Ahituv and Lerman). Findings from the studies […]

The Loving Couples Loving Children Single Parents curriculum consists of 11 modules and provides skills that help single parents build stronger, healthier connections with their children and outside relationships. Materials include: Facilitator Guide, Level 1 Workbook, and Level 2 Workbook.

Anger is humanity’s survival kit -a life-saving resource. It is an emotion that offers the raw material for growth and change. David Mace believes that anger can have positive functions. He calls his theory “”management of anger”” a way of dealing with the love-anger cycles all intimate relations go through, particularly the relationship of marriage. […]

A book and online profile that identifies a couple’s strengths to help them build a more vital relationship. Based on an unprecedented national survey of 50,000 marriages, The Couple Checkup presents the principles for creating a successful couple relationship. The free online profile includes fifteen to twenty categories that are customized based on the relationship […]