individually-oriented RE – The Relationship Educator

Taking Account of Different Relationship-Belief Patterns in Relationship Education

By Sarah Hokanson

The Bottom-Line First: People come to relationship education classes with different beliefs about forming and developing relationships. These beliefs invariably bring with them different needs. This study identified five different groups of relationship beliefs among participants and explored the risk factors associated with each group. As relationship educators, recognizing these groups can help us better focus on the needs of our clients. Continue reading “Taking Account of Different Relationship-Belief Patterns in Relationship Education”

Higher Peaks in Relationship Education

by Alan J. Hawkins

The Bottom-line First: The relationship education (RE) field has experienced a lot of successes over the past 20 years, but we can’t let this obscure our view of the higher peaks beyond. We need to raise our sites and become more innovative and strategic if we are really going to move the needle on the problems we are trying to address: family instability and social poverty. RE practitioners need to think more like public health workers. Here is a strategy for raising our sites for the next 20 years. Continue reading “Higher Peaks in Relationship Education”

Changing Marriage Attitudes and Mental Health Among Youth:

What Could This Mean for Youth Relationship Education?

By Hailey Palmer and Alan J. Hawkins

The Bottom-Line (at the Top): Recent research has found shifting trends among youth in two important areas: marriage attitudes and mental health. A substantial drop seems to have occurred in the percentage of youth who consider getting married to be important to them personally. Furthermore, researchers are finding large increases in mental health problems, such as depressionand anxiety, among teens. How might these trends affect youth relationship education? Continue reading “Changing Marriage Attitudes and Mental Health Among Youth:”

Increasing Youths’ Relationship Confidence with Relationship Education

By McKell Jorgensen and Alan J. Hawkins

The Bottom Line First: Youth relationship education aims to build youths skills to form and sustain healthy romantic relationships. A new study provides more evidence that these kinds of programs can be effective at helping youth develop more confidence in their abilities to form and sustain healthy relationships. The study also looks at who benefits the most. Continue reading “Increasing Youths’ Relationship Confidence with Relationship Education”