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Home > Research Areas > Marriage & Family > Our Work
OUR WORK
An underlying principle in child development is that children develop best in a low-conflict family formed by married, biological parents. To assist couples entering marriage or to strengthen their relationship, Child Trends is involved in a number of research projects that focus on assessing and measuring “healthy marriage” and evaluating the implications of marriage-strengthening efforts for families and children.
Science Says: Unplanned Pregnancy and Depression
Child Trends conducted research for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy’s issue brief, Unplanned Pregnancy and Family Turmoil. The brief finds that parents who have a birth resulting from an unplanned pregnancy are less likely to be in a committed relationship, less likely to move into a more formal union, and more likely to have high levels of relationship conflict and unhappiness than those parents who have a birth resulting from a planned pregnancy. In addition, levels of depression are higher among mothers and fathers having an unplanned birth, which has implications for parents’ well-being and their parenting abilities.
Conceptualizing and Measuring “Healthy Marriages”
One of the goals of Child Trends' Healthy Marriages Initiative is to measure healthy marital relationships. With funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children Youth and Families (HHS/ACF), Child Trends completed this project in five tasks:
Supporting Healthy Marriage Project
Under a subcontract to MDRC, we are participating in a nine-year project funded by HHS/ACF designed to inform program operators and policymakers of the most effective ways to help couples strengthen and maintain healthy marriages.
National Healthy Marriage Resource Center
Child Trends has provided user-friendly information about marriage and marriage education to the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center.
Non-marital Childbearing
The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) is funding Child Trends to work on a project that will enhance our understanding of the influence of welfare policies, social policies, and other policies on childbearing outside of marriage and the likelihood that unmarried parents will marry and remain in stable low-conflict relationships.
Relationships and Adolescent Childbearing
With a three-year grant from the Office of Population Affairs (OPA), we are examining how parent-teen relationships, family stability, and peer environments are associated with the development of positive romantic and sexual relationships; how teen-partner relationships, parent-teen relationships, and peer environments are associated with the risk of a nonmarital teen birth; and what teens perceive to be the critical dimensions of healthy romantic relationships.
Family and Relationship Turbulence
NICHD has funded Child Trends to examine the intergenerational link between childhood family structure history and the turbulence, type, and quality of relationships young people form during the transition to adulthood.
Other Resources
Developing Measures of Healthy Marriages and Relationships
K.A. Moore - J. Bronte-Tinkew - S. Jekielek - L. Guzman - S. Ryan - Z. Redd - J. Carrano - G. Matthews. In S. Hofferth and L.. Casper (Eds.). Handbook of Measurement Issues in Family Research. New York: Erlbaum. January 2007.
What Is "Healthy Marriage"? Defining the Concept
Kristin Anderson Moore; Susan M. Jekielek; Jacinta Bronte-Tinkew; Lina Guzman; Suzanne Ryan; Zakia Redd
September 2004
Conceptualizing and Measuring "Healthy Marriages" (CD) ($35 from David Carrier at 202/572-6138 or dcarrier@childtrends.org)
Jennifer Carrano; Kevin Cleveland; Jacinta Bronte-Tinkew; Kristin A. Moore
December 2003
Conceptualizing and Measuring "Healthy Marriages" for Empirical Research and Evaluation Studies: Recommendation Memos from Experts (270 pgs.)
Susan M. Jekielek; Kristin A. Moore; Jennifer Carrano; Greg Matthews
December 2003
Marriage from a Child's Perspective: How Does Family Structure Affect Children, and What Can We Do About It?
Kristin A. Moore; Susan M. Jekielek; Carol Emig
June 2002
Researching the Family: A Guide to Survey and Statistical Data on U.S. Families
Nicholas Zill
January 1993
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