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Source: Washington Times March 12, 2010
"Family Funds Break Up"

By: Cheryl Wetzstein -- Is the Obama administration trying to divorce the federal government from the marriage business? Yes, the White House is ditching the only real federal effort to strengthen the institution of marriage, say some marriage-movement activists, who are already lamenting the loss of the Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood grant program.

But others, including those involved in federal and local fatherhood programs, say not really - its replacement program is an important adjustment in family policy.

Still others say the marriage money may be gone, but people should save their tears - government funds have already done what they can to till the soil and it's now time for private enterprise and religious groups to step up and revive America's marriage culture.

The center of this debate is located in two lines of the Obama administration's 2011 budget.

One zeroes out the $150 million Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood grants, and the other creates a $500 million Fatherhood, Marriage and Families Innovation Fund, aimed at issuing three-year competitive grants to states. The new fund absorbs the funding of the George W. Bush-era marriage and fatherhood grants.

To read the full article, visit The Washington Times.

Source: Dallas Morning News March 11, 2010
"Black Marriage Day Events in Dallas Aim to Build, Strengthen Ties"

Many people say the institution of marriage has taken a back seat to a lifestyle of "anything goes."

Some Dallas community leaders and faith-based groups have joined a national campaign to combat that trend in black families and communities through the eighth annual Black Marriage Day celebrations March 26-28.

Most Dallas-area activities are free and open to people who are married, courting or engaged. The events aim to promote and strengthen marriage by touting its benefits in seminars, film festivals, vow renewals and celebrations.

Sponsors include Anthem Strong Families, Muhammad Mosque No. 48, some churches and the Wedded Bliss Foundation of Washington, D.C.

To read the full article, visit the Dallas Morning News.

Source: USA Today March 03, 2010
"Report: Cohabiting has Little Effect on Marriage Success"

By Sharon Jayson, USA TODAY
Couples who live together before marriage and those who don't both have about the same chances of a successful union, according to a federal report out Tuesday that turns earlier cohabitation research on its head.

The report, by the National Center for Health Statistics, is based on the National Survey of Family Growth, a sample of almost 13,000. It provides the most detailed data on cohabitation of men and women to date.

Past research - using decades-old data - found significantly higher divorce rates for cohabitors, defined as "not married but living together with a partner of the opposite sex." But now, in an era when about two-thirds of couples who marry live together first, a different picture is emerging in which there are few differences between those who cohabit and those who don't.

Of those married 10 or more years, 60% of women and 62% of men had ever cohabited; 61% of women and 63% of men had cohabited only with the one they married. Meanwhile, 66% of women and 69% of men married 10 years had never cohabited.

To read the full article, visit USA Today.

 

Source: Business Week February 25, 2010
Happy Marriage Cuts Men's Risk for Stroke

(HealthDay News) -- Single or unhappily married men seem to run a greater risk of dying from a stroke than those with good marriages, a new Israeli study indicates.

The study, which tracked more than 10,000 civil servants and municipal workers from 1963 to 1997, found that 8.4 percent of the single men died of strokes, compared to 7.1 percent of the married men. When age and known stroke risk factors such as obesity, smoking and diabetes were included in the analysis, single men had a 64 percent higher risk of fatal stroke than married men, according to a report scheduled to be presented Wednesday at the American Stroke Association's annual stroke conference in San Antonio.

The study also asked men to evaluate the success of their marriages. The 3.6 percent of men who reported dissatisfaction with marriage also had a 64 percent higher risk of a fatal stroke, compared to those who considered their marriages to be very successful.

"Maybe summoning help in the case of suspected stroke took longer among those who were unmarried," said study author Uri Goldbourt, a professor of epidemiology and preventive medicine at Tel Aviv University. "If that were true, perhaps the probability to survive a stroke would be lower among those living alone."

To read the full article, visit: http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/636192.html

Source: The New York Times February 22, 2010
"For Women, Redefining Marriage Material"

Women have outpaced men in acquiring education for a few decades now, with 185 women earning college degrees at age 22 for every 100 men, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And more women are now employed because men are more likely to work in industries that are declining or cyclical. An essay by Don Peck in The Atlantic, reported that in November, nearly a fifth of all men between the ages of 25 and 54 did not have jobs, the highest figure since 1948.

How might these changes affect decisions to marry? Should women alter their expectations of what a husband brings to a marriage?  Betsey Stevenson, economist, University of Pennsylvania; Stephanie Coontz, historian, Evergreen State College; Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, Institute for American Values;  Helen Fisher, biological anthropologist, Rutgers University are interviewed.

To read the full article, visit:  http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/for-women-redefining-marriage-material/