A Timeline of the Milestones and Significant Events in the Marriage Field

 

The NHMRC would like to thank Andrea Lee of the Marriage CoMission for her contributions to this timeline.

 

1934 – Professor Ernest Groves, who was among the first academicians to give a course in marriage and the family in an established university, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, holds the first Groves Conference on Marriage and Family. http://www.grovesconference.org/index.htm

 

1938 — National Council of Family Relations (NCFR) established. http://www.ncfr.org/index.asp

 

1942 – American Association of Marriage Counselors established, which later becomes The American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy. http://www.aamft.org/

 

1946 – Catholic Church begins a marriage preparation program in the Archdiocese of Chicago. http://www.familyministries.org/resources/index.asp?c_id=16&t_id=2

 

1952 – Father Gabriel Calvo begins developing a series of conferences for Catholic married couples in Spain, which becomes World Wide Marriage Encounter. By 1971, this has spread throughout the United States and is open to couples of all religious backgrounds. http://www.wwme.org/

 

1962 – David and Vera Mace begin offering marriage retreats to couples in Pennsylvania. http://www.bettermarriages.org/?historyofacme 

 

1965 – Senator Moynihan voices concern for the African American family in his report: “The Negro Family: The Case for National Action.” http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=m001054

 

1969 – California becomes the first state to legalize “No Fault Divorce.”  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-fault_divorce#United_States_History 

 

1972 – Bernard Guerney, Jr., Ph.D. founds the Institute for the Development of Emotional and Life Skills (IDEALS) and begins offering Relationship Enhancement. http://www.relationshipenhancement.org/

 

 1973 – David and Vera Mace found the Association for Couples in Marriage Enrichment (ACME). http://www.bettermarriages.org/?main
LINK[external: http://www.bettermarriages.org/?main] 

 

1975 – Researchers begin to analyze marital distress; Howard Markman conducts foundational studies that become the Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP). http://www.prepinc.com/main/about_us.asp

 

1975 – Lori Gordon puts together a semester long course at American University which later becomes the Practical Application of Intimate Relationship Skills (PAIRS). http://instructor.pairs.com/history.html

 

1980 – The divorce rate in the United States peaks.

 

1986 – Modesto, CA signs the first Community Marriage Policy; Marriage Savers  begins. http://www.marriagesavers.org/sitems/index.htm 

 

1990 – PREP training first conducted with the U.S. Navy.

 

1990 – Ken Canfield founds the National Center for Fathering. http://www.fathers.com/

 

1992 – Vice President Dan Quayle delivers a speech criticizing the decline of marriage and family values that captures national attention. http://www.vicepresidentdanquayle.com/speeches_StandingFirm_CCC_1.html

 

1992 – John Gray publishes “Men are from Mars Women are from Venus” the number one best-selling book over the next decade. http://home.marsvenus.com/

 

1993 – Barbara Defoe Whitehead publishes “Dan Quayle was Right” in The Atlantic. http://www.theatlantic.com/past/politics/family/danquayl.htm

 

1994 – National Fatherhood Initiative startshttps://www.fatherhood.org/

 

1996 – President Clinton signs into law the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, Public Law 104-193, better known as the welfare (TANF) reform act. It includes provisions for marriage strengthening. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d104:HR03734 

 

1996 – President Clinton signs into law the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c104:H.R.3396.ENR 

 

1996 – Diane Sollee founds the Coalition for Marriage, Family and Couples Education, Smart Marriages. http://smartmarriages.com/index.html 

 

1996 – National Association of Marriage Enhancement (NAME) is founded. http://www.marriageconferences.us/

 

1997:  First Smart Marriages Conference is held. http://smartmarriages.com/index.html

 

1997 – First Things First in Chattanooga, TN begins. http://firstthings.org/

 

1997 – Louisiana becomes first state to offer covenant marriage. http://www.ag.louisiana.gov/Shared/ViewDoc.aspx?Type=3&Doc=206

 

1997 – Paul R. Amato and Alan Booth publish A Generation at Risk: Growing Up in an Era of Family Upheaval, which shows that divorce can harm children more than low-conflict marriages. http://www.amazon.com/Generation-Risk-Growing-Family-Upheaval/dp/0674003985

 

1998 – Utah forms a statewide commission on marriage. http://utahmarriage.org/

 

1998 – Florida becomes the first state to enact a pro-marriage high school curriculum.

 

1999 – Oklahoma Governor launches first statewide marriage initiative. http://www.okmarriage.net/ProgramHighlights/EventSearch.aspx 

 

1999 – National Marriage Project at Rutgers University releases its first “State of Our Unions” report. In 2009, it moves to the University of Virginia. http://www.virginia.edu/marriageproject/

 

2000 – “The Case for Marriage: Why Married People are Happier, Healthier and Better Off Financially” by Linda Waite and Maggie Gallagher is published. http://www.amazon.com/Case-Marriage-Married-Healthier-Financially/dp/0767906322/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1279745235&sr=1-1

 

2000 –   “The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce: A 25 Year Landmark Study” by Judith Wallerstein, Julia Lewis and Sandra Blakeslee is published. http://www.amazon.com/Unexpected-Legacy-Divorce-Landmark-Study/dp/0786886161/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1279745377&sr=1-1

 

2002 – Marriage rate lowest in U.S. history.

 

2002 – Marriage Week USA is launched. http://www.nationalmarriageweekusa.org/

2002 – The Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services launches a national Healthy Marriage Initiative. http://www.acf.hhs.gov/healthymarriage/index.html and http://www.healthymarriageinfo.org/docs/acfhminitiativeguide.pdf

2002:  ACF launches The Building Strong Families project. http://www.buildingstrongfamilies.info/index.htm

 

2002 – Proposed legislation is first introduced in Congress to allocate Federal funds to marriage education and promotion as part of TANF.

 

2002 – Black Marriage Day launched. http://blackmarriageday.com/Black_Marriage_Day/Welcome.html

 

2003 – Institute for American Values publishes “Why Marriage Matters: Twenty-Six Conclusions from Social Sciences.” http://www.americanvalues.org/html/r-wmm.html

 

2003 – Marriage Commission founded. http://www.marriagecomission.com/go/home

 

2003 – The African American Healthy Marriage Initiative and the Hispanic Healthy Marriage Initiative are launched at ACF. http://aahmi.net/ and http://www.acf.hhs.gov/healthymarriage/about/hispanic_hm_initiative.508.html

 

2003 – ACF launches the Supporting Healthy Marriage project. http://www.supportinghealthymarriage.org/

 

2004:  ACF establishes the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center. http://www.healthymarriageinfo.org/

 

2005 – Congress passes the Deficit Reduction Act that provides funding of $150 million each year for healthy marriage promotion and fatherhood. It is signed into law by President Bush in February, 2006. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c109:5:./temp/~c109FCbmqj:e414381

 

2005 – Kathryn Edin and Maria Kefalas publish “Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood Before Marriage”  http://www.amazon.com/Promises-Can-Keep-Motherhood-Marriage/dp/0520248198/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1280347423&sr=1-1

 

2006 – ACF awards grants to 226 organizations to promote healthy marriage and responsible fatherhood as authorized by the Deficit Reduction Act.  http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ofa/hmabstracts/summary.htm

 

2006 – Kay Hymowitz publishes “Marriage and Caste in America:  Separate and Unequal Families in a Post-Marital Age”  http://www.amazon.com/Marriage-Caste-America-Separate-Post-Marital/dp/1566637090/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1280347243&sr=8-1

 

2006 – Elizabeth Marquardt publishes Between Two Worlds: The Inner Lives of Children of Divorce, where she argues that there is no such thing as a good divorce, but, rather that it harms children for their entire lives. http://www.amazon.com/Between-Two-Worlds-Children-Divorce/dp/0307237117/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1280948129&sr=1-4 

 

2009 – Paul R. Amato, Alan Booth, David R. Johnson and Stacy J. Rogers publish Alone Together: How Marriage in America is Changing, which shows that while the divorce rate has leveled off, spouses are spending less time together. http://www.amazon.com/Alone-Together-Marriage-America-Changing/dp/0674032179/ref=pd_sim_b_1

 

2010 – Building Strong Families first impact study is released:  http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/publications/pdfs/family_support/BSF_impact_execsumm.pdf