Relationship Education for Youth Who Have Faced Adversity

Research BriefRelationship & Family FormationOct 5 2021

Authors

Caring and intimate relationships are critical to individuals’ well-being throughout their lifespan.¹^,² Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education (HMRE) programs are designed to build skills that improve relationship quality for adult couples, individuals, co-parents, and youth. Historically, a segment of HMRE programs has focused on relationships for adolescents and young adults (generally ages 15-24). However, in 2020, the Administration for Children and Families launched an initiative[a] designed to help young people successfully transition to adulthood by promoting their socio-emotional development and strengthening their relationship and other life skills.³ This focus is motivated by research suggesting that intervening during adolescence—before young people’s relationship habits are solidified and they make marital commitments—is an important strategy for promoting healthy adult relationships.⁴^,⁵These skills are also transferable to other relationships important for youth development.

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Annotated bibliography

This brief was created by the Marriage Strengthening Research & Dissemination Center.

Offering extra support on developing healthy relationships is particularly important for youth who have faced interpersonal trauma and adversity (for example, youth aging out of foster care, those who are or have been involved with the juvenile justice system, those who are parents, and those who are or have experienced homelessness); these experiences may place young people at increased risk for poor relational and other outcomes. However, few HMRE programs have been created or adapted to meet the specific needs of youth with these experiences.

This annotated bibliography is intended to provide practitioners and researchers within the HMRE field with useful information that may help them adapt, develop, and test new or refined strategies for working with diverse groups of youth, including those who have faced adversity. It includes literature on (1) outcome evaluations of HMRE programs with youth who have faced adversity, (2) program implementation research with these populations, and (3) descriptive research that provides important contextual information for working with these adolescents and young adults.