RESOURCES
ARTICLES
Family Inequality: Diverging Patterns in Marriage, Cohabitation, and Childbearing
Popular discussions of changes in American families over the past 60 years have revolved around the "retreat from marriage." Concern has focused on increasing levels of nonmarital childbearing, as well as falling marriage rates that stem from both increases in the age at first marriage and greater marital instability. Often lost in these discussions is the fact that the decline of marriage has coincided with a rise in cohabitation.
In America today, it’s easy to believe that marriage is a social good—that our lives and our communities are better when more people get and stay married. There have, of course, been massive changes to the institution over the past few generations, leading the occasional cultural critic to ask: Is marriage becoming obsolete?
Cruising at Altitude: Reconciling a High Divorce Rate with High Marital Satisfaction Ratings
While many couples divorce, most people report being happily married when surveyed. Those facts seem at odds. There are some simple and complex methodological explanations for this, but I have long thought about the explanation using a metaphor of an airplane in flight. That is what I present here.
Viewing Relationship Education through the Lens of Social Poverty
I have waited anxiously for Sarah Halpern-Meekin’s new book, Social Poverty: Low-income Parents and the Struggle for Family and Community Ties, since I first heard her describe the study and writing project three years ago. I wasn’t disappointed.
Emotional Intelligence Is Key to Successful Leadership
Leadership skills are, in many contexts—the workplace, schools and classrooms, politics, volunteer organizations, and even within families—fairly recognizable. People who take initiative, who have a vision, and who can strategize, plan, and accomplish goals to achieve their vision are considered good leaders.
Do Premarital Education Promotion Policies Work?
Today, approximately 40 to 50% of first marriages and 60% of second marriages end in divorce in the United States.1 Divorce has been a popular topic in research for decades. Numerous studies have documented the greater risks of negative outcomes for individuals and families associated with divorce.
NEWS
Five-Year Study Documents The Positive Impact Of Relationship And Marriage Education Programs In California
Impact Report: Research on the Impact of Relationship and Marriage Education Programs in California is the product of the largest cross-site, cross-program study ever conducted on the impact of RME. "Having collected outcome data from thousands of participants in RME classes taught in California between 2007 and 2012, we now have empirical research that reveals just how great a positive impact these programs have on participants," explains HRC President Patty Howell.