The Supporting Healthy Marriage project, being led by MDRC, is an impact and implementation evaluation of healthy marriage education and related services for lower-income married couples with children provided by eight programs across the country. The major study questions include: (1) What are the experiences, issues and challenges in designing, implementing and operating healthy marriage […]
A number of leading marriage and relationship education programs encourage couples to value and to understand the benefits of spending time together, as it is an important condition for a flourishing relationship. There has been some concern that poor couples may have less time and energy for each other than other couples — and less […]
The Exploratory Study of Decision Making in Low-Income Couples (CDM) was designed to gather information that may ultimately help shape content, service delivery, and outcome measurement in programs serving economically disadvantaged families, particularly parents eligible for public assistance and social services. The study uses survey data, direct observation of couple interaction, and physiological measurement to […]
Overview The Fragile Families and Welfare Reform project looked at the conditions and capabilities of vulnerable mothers and fathers in the years following enactment of PRWORA and examined the complex relationships between this new legislation and families’ economic and non-economic wellbeing. The project estimated the composition of the actual and eligible welfare caseload, how unwed […]
This Manual draws from previously developed resources created by the NHMRC as well as incorporating tools and strategies suggested by those working in the MRE field. The NHMRC was designed as a clearinghouse to advance the field of MRE. Funded by the federal Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families Office […]
This brief, published by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) is part of the Hispanic Healthy Marriage Initiative (HHMI) Grantee Implementation Evaluation. The brief, produced by the Lewin Group, describes the populations served by the nine sites in the study and the implications of Hispanic diversity for program design, delivery, and evaluation. Administration […]
The Building Strong Families (BSF) evaluation assessed the impacts of eight programs offering a similar model of healthy marriage and relationship skills and support services to interested low-income unmarried parents around the time of the birth of a child. While many unmarried parents live together when their children are born, their relationships are often tenuous […]
Knot Yet: The Benefits and Costs of Delayed Marriage In America What does the rising marriage age mean for twentysomething women, men, and families? One of the most important social developments of our time is the recent rise in age at first marriage, which now stands at 27 for women and 29 for men–a […]
In 2002, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) instituted the Community Healthy Marriage Initiative (CHMI) evaluation to document operational lessons and assess the effectiveness of community-based approaches to support healthy relationships, marriages, and child well-being. The evaluation is being conducted by RTI International and The Urban Institute. A component of the CHMI study involved […]
In The Forever Initiative, Hawkins calls for more state-directed public support for a series of educational efforts to help individuals and couples form healthy relationships and enduring marriages. He outlines an integrated set of feasible and affordable educational initiatives across the early life course, beginning in youth, continuing in early adulthood, engagement, and through the […]