Keeping Relationship Educators Up-to-Date
by McKell Jorgensen and Alan J. Hawkins
The Bottom Line First: A community-wide, religious-sector effort to increase participation in marriage and relationship education services in Jacksonville, Florida, appears to have reduced the divorce rate there by nearly 30%, 3 times more than in the rest of Florida. And a new initiative wants to fund other community efforts to replicate these results. Continue reading “Can Community Marriage Initiatives Reduce Community Divorce Rates?”
by McKell Jorgensen and Alan J. Hawkins
The Bottom Line First: While this blog focuses on healthy relationship and marriage education, an important, parallel field of responsible fatherhood education also exists. Researchers, however, have not given a lot of attention to the effectiveness of responsible fatherhood programs. But a recently released, large-scale, rigorous study – Parents and Children Together helps to fill that void. The study found that these programs increased fathers’ engagement and nurturing behavior with their children, but struggled to have other impacts. Continue reading “Results of the Parents and Children Together Responsible Fatherhood Program Evaluation”
By McKell Jorgensen and Alan J. Hawkins
The Bottom Line First: Couple relationship education often aims to increase relationship quality, individuals’ confidence in fostering a healthy relationship, and positive interactions between romantic partners. A new study looked at how the “facilitator alliance” – the positive connection between a program participant and the facilitator or instructor – affects program outcomes. They found that participants who reported a stronger facilitator alliance had stronger program outcomes. A gender match was the most important demographic characteristic for the facilitator alliance. Continue reading “The Facilitator Alliance in RE: “Who” Matters, Not Just “What””
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”
