This research article uses data from the Fragile Families Study to analyze intergenerational family relationships and stability among married and unmarried parents within five years of a child’s birth. Authors find that positive relationships between fathers and maternal grandparents is associated with a higher likelihood of marriage. The results suggest the importance for understanding broad contexts, such as intergenerational family relationships, when understanding fragile families.

Authored by Anne Sparks at Ohio University, this National Poverty Center Working Paper outlines the implementation of the ‘Within My Reach’ Curriculum in Oklahoma. The program is included in a week of orientation activities for new TANF participants at the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. This paper provides results from interviews with TANF participants who participated in the program and findings suggest that this program has been successful in promoting relationship skills among this population.

Researchers at Bowling Green State University presented on healthy marriages and healthy relationships at the Eleventh Annual Welfare Research and Evaluation Conference that is sponsored through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation. The qualitative assessment focused on what healthy marriage participants think about marriage or relationships and why they attend classes as well as key lessons that are learned from these classes.

This research brief was done through the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Office of Human Services Policy, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative (OMI). The OMI has been very successful in promoting marriage education across the State, and in enlisting volunteers in local communities. This brief focuses on how the OMI recruited and mobilized a volunteer workforce and highlights the role of large, regional one-day community events in introducing and stimulating interest in relationship skills workshops.

This is the process evaluation of the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative (OMI), which was sponsored through the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. The OMI is the longest and most comprehensive marriage program in the country, and this report shows the extent to which the OMI has reached vulnerable families. Specifically, around five to ten percent of Oklahoma families have participated in OMI workshops, and every county in the State has been reached.

This report is from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation and is an evaluation of the Community Healthy Marriage Initiative. It focuses on the implementation of three projects funded through section 1115 grants from ACF’s Office of Child Support Enforcement. The report examines three different approaches to implementing a healthy marriage initiative and describes how various organizations leverage their strengths and abilities to implement their programs. The report includes demographic data on each of the program participants and if they are receiving TANF benefits.

Offered at the OFA Entrance Conference for Healthy Marriage and Promoting Responsible Fatherhood Grantees, this presentation offers information on the use of logic models for healthy marriage programs. The presentation provides a basic understanding of logic modeling and how to build appropriate logic models for specific programs.

The RAND Corporation authored this report on the effects of work-conditioned welfare programs on marriage or child well-being. By using a theoretical framework and past research in this area, authors find that welfare programs can increase family income, which will affect child outcomes.

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania conducted this study on the recent trends on marriage stability in the United States. While recent data offers conflicting evidence, authors review data, and conclude that marital stability has increased among married couples since the mid-late 1970s.

The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation funded this report, which synthesizes and evaluates the literature on adolescent romantic relationships, with emphasis on how these relationships are precursors of adult marriages. The goal of the report is to provide a foundation for policies to promote healthy marriages through programs targeted to adolescents.