marriage agenda

124 Pages·2012·1.08 MB·English

The National
Marriage Project
2012
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For more information:
The National Marriage Project
P.O. Box 400766
Charlottesville, VA 22904-4766
[phone]
[email protected]
http://www.stateofourunions.org
December 2012
Design
Alma Phipps & Associates
© Copyright 2012 by the National Marriage Project and
the Institute for American Values. All rights reserved.
ISBN 978-1-931764-38-4
THE
STATE
of OUR
UNIONS
The State of Our Unions monitors the current
health of marriage and family life in America.
Produced annually, it is a joint publication of the
National Marriage Project at the University of
Virginia and the Center for Marriage and Families
at the Institute for American Values.
The National Marriage Project
The National Marriage Project (NMP) is a nonpartisan, non-
sectarian, and interdisciplinary initiative located at the University
of Virginia. The Project’s mission is to provide research and analysis
on the health of marriage in America, to analyze the social and
cultural forces shaping contemporary marriage, and to identify
strategies to increase marital quality and stability. The NMP has
five goals: (1) publish the State of Our Unions, which monitors the
current health of marriage and family life in America; (2) investi-
gate and report on the state of marriage among young adults; (3)
provide accurate information and analysis regarding marriage to
journalists, policy makers, religious leaders, and the general pub-
lic—especially young adults; (4) conduct research on the ways in
which children, race, class, immigration, ethnicity, religion, and
poverty shape the quality and stability of contemporary marriage;
and (5) bring marriage and family experts together to develop
strategies for strengthening marriage. The NMP was founded
in 1997 by family scholars David Popenoe and Barbara Dafoe
Whitehead. The Project is now directed by W. Bradford Wilcox,
associate professor of sociology at the University of Virginia.
iv
The Center for Marriage &
Families at the Institute for
American Values
The Center for Marriage and Families is located at the Institute
for American Values, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedi-
cated to strengthening families and civil society in the U.S. and the
world. Directed by Elizabeth Marquardt, the Center’s mission is to
increase the proportion of U.S. children growing up with their two
married parents. The Center’s website, FamilyScholars.org, features
emerging voices and senior scholars who blog with expertise and
from varied points of view on today’s key debates on the family.
v
Board of Advisors
A Board of Advisors made up of the following distinguished
scholars and professionals guides the work of the National
Marriage Project.
Richard M. Campanelli, Esq.
William J. Doherty, University of Minnesota
Kathryn Edin, Harvard University
Christopher G. Ellison, University of Texas at San Antonio
Robert Emery, University of Virginia
William A. Galston, The Brookings Institution
Neil Gilbert, University of California at Berkeley
Ron Haskins, The Brookings Institution
G. Sim Johnston, Author
Linda Malone-Colón, Hampton University
Elizabeth Marquardt, Institute for American Values
David G. Myers, Hope College
David Popenoe, Rutgers University, emeritus
Isabel Sawhill, The Brookings Institution
Scott Stanley, University of Denver
Linda J. Waite, University of Chicago
Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, Institute for American Values
vi
TABLE
of
CONTENTS

1 the president’s marriage agenda
for the forgotten sixty percent
Elizabeth Marquardt, David Blankenhorn,
Robert I. Lerman, Linda Malone-Colón, and
W. Bradford Wilcox
49 marriage and relationship
education: a promising strategy
for strengthening low-income,
vulnerable families
Theodora Ooms and Alan J. Hawkins
social indicators of marital
health and well-being
62 Marriage
67 Divorce
76 Unmarried Cohabitation
84 Loss of Child-Centeredness
89 Fragile Families with Children
96 Teen Attitudes about Marriage and Family

PRESIDENT’S
e
Th
MARRIAGE
AGENDA
for the forgotten
sixty percent
elizabeth marquardt
david blankenhorn
robert i. lerman
linda malone-colón
w. bradford wilcox
SUGGESTED CITATION: Elizabeth Marquardt, David Blankenhorn,
Robert I. Lerman, Linda Malone-Colón, and W. Bradford Wilcox, “The
President’s Marriage Agenda for the Forgotten Sixty Percent,” The State of
Our Unions (Charlottesville, VA: National Marriage Project and Institute
for American Values, 2012).