Featured this month at the NHMRC

Health
“Something Important is Going on Here!” Making Connections Between Marriage, Relationship Quality and Health. The health benefits of marriage have been much commented upon in recent years by scholars, public officials, health and human service practitioners, and the media. Married people, we are told, are healthier and live longer, but the significance and practical use of this finding is not clear. Should healthcare professionals and advocates pay attention to this fact? Why is it important to examine the connections between marriage, relationship quality, and health? What can the fields of marriage and relationship education and healthcare contribute to each other? This report summarizes some preliminary answers to these questions reached by healthcare and marriage and relationship experts, brought together for the first time at a conference sponsored by the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center (NHMRC).

Research

May 2012 HHMI Grantee Implementation Evaluation: Marketing, Recruitment and Retention Strategies – As part of the Hispanic Healthy Marriage Initiative (HHMI) Grantee Implementation Evaluation, OPRE published a project brief that describes how grantees craft recruitment messages and strategies and develop and disseminate marketing materials to encourage participation in family strengthening and relationship education services by a broad and diverse Hispanic clientele. HHMI is being conducted for ACF by the Lewin Group and its partners, the University of Houston’s Graduate School of Social Work and Washington University’s Center for Latino Family Research.

March 2012 Supporting Healthy Marriage (SHM) Report – The study found that across the eight programs evaluated, the SHM program produced a consistent pattern of positive effects on multiple aspects of couples’ relationships, including higher levels of marital happiness; fewer negative behaviors and emotions in their interactions with each other; and less psychological and physical abuse from their spouses.

First Marriages in the United States: Data From the 2006–2010 National Survey of Family Growth – This report shows trends and group differences in current marital status, with a focus on first marriages among women and men aged 15–44 years in the United States. Trends and group differences in the timing and duration of first marriages are also discussed. These data are based on the 2006–2010 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). National estimates of probabilities of first marriage by age and probabilities of separation and divorce for women and men’s first marriages are presented by a variety of demographic characteristics. Data are compared with similar measures for 1982, 1995, and 2002.

Upcoming Conferences

The National Association for Relationship and Marriage Education’s Annual Conference ~ Champions for Children