Cohabiting Parents' Experience of Relationships and Separation
This paper studies the cohabiting relationship, why people choose to cohabit, cohabiters' views on marriage, and the legal and parenting challenges cohabiting couples face after separation.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• The Joseph Rowntree Foundation • April 01, 2000

Are Cohabiting Relationships More Violent Than Marriages?
Using data from the National Survey of Families and Households (1987-88 and 1992-93) this paper studies and compares the level of domestic violence ...
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Center for Research on Child Wellbeing • June 01, 2001

Broken Hearts, Tainted Love: Canadians AndTheir Relationships (2nd Annual)
This second annual survey again asks how many people had been cheated on, and how many thought they would cheat.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Ipsos-Reid • February 01, 2003

Home Wreckers And Who’s Fault Is It?
This poll asked Canadians about their attitudes toward marital infidelity, including which gender was assumed to be to blame, and whether the respondent felt that attitudes have changed in the past 20 years.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Ipsos-Reid • February 01, 2003

Why Religion Matters: The Impact of Religious Practice on Social Stability
This paper argues that religion serves to preserve marriage and sound moral judgement while discouraging social ills such as crime, divorce, cohabitation, suicide, out-of-wedlock births, and drug abuse.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• The Heritage Foundation • January 25, 1996

Encouraging Marriage and Discouraging Divorce
This paper describes initiatives, both government-based and private/religious, aimed at reducing divorce and encouraging strong marriages.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• The Heritage Foundation • March 26, 2001

Watching Sex on Television Predicts Adolescent Initiation of Sexual Behavior
The study examines the connection between viewing sexual content on TV and early sexual initiations among adolescents.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• American Academy of Pediatrics • September 1, 2004

Young Adult Attitudes About Relationships and Marriage: Times May Have Changed, But Expectations Remain High
This Research Brief provides a portrait of the attitudes and opinions of young adults about relationships and the importance of marriage.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Child Trends • July 2009

When Two Become One: The Unique Nature and Benefits of Marriage (Second Edition)
This publication looks at marriage from a biblical perspective and discusses the changes in Canadian marriage policy.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada • 2006

A Closer Look at Changes in Children’s Living Arrangements in Low-Income Families
This paper examines changes in the living arrangements of American children between 1999 and 2001, and discusses the stability of various family structures and their impact on child well-being.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Johns Hopkins University • February 20, 2000

A Statewide Study of Premarital Risk Variables: Implications for Educators and Therapists
This paper analyzes a number of variables among premarital couples for the purpose of assisting in the formation of a premarital assessment instrument.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Family Institute • February 28, 2003

Divorce Risk for Foreigners in the Netherlands
This paper measures divorce risk by duration of marriage and country of origin in the Netherlands.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Statistics Netherlands, Division of Social and Spatial Statistics • June 19, 2003

Economic Circumstances and Union Dissolution of Couples in the 1990s in the Netherlands
This paper examines the role of personal income and socioeconomic status on the breakdown of recently formed marital and non-martial unions in the Netherlands.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Statistics Netherlands • 16 March 2004

Instability in Fragile Families: The Role of Race-Ethnicity, Economics, and Relationship Quality
This study compares the prevalence of separation among married and cohabiting parents of young children, with attention paid to racial and economic differences in relationship stability.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Center for Research on Child Wellbeing • August 14-17, 2004

Cohabitors’ Prerequisites for Marriage: Individual, Relationship, and Sociocultural Influences
This paper examines subjective relational dynamics in a cohabitation arrangement.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Center for Family and Demographic Research • 2004

The Significance of Nonmarital Cohabitation: Marital Status and Mental Health Benefits among Middle-Aged and Older Adults
This paper examines the psychological well-being of older adults who are either married or cohabiting.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Center for Family and Demographic Research • November 19-22, 2003

Union Type and Adult Self-Esteem
This paper demonstrates that cohabitors have significantly lower levels of self-esteem than married individuals.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Center for Family and Demographic Research • 2002

The State of Our Unions 2007: The Social Health of Marriage in America
This essay examines how the institution of marriage has lost some of its meaning in American family life today.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• The National Marriage Project • July 2007

The State of Our Unions 2005: The Social Health of Marriage in America
This report provides information on marriage, divorce, unmarried cohabitation, and family attitudes in America during 2005.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• The National Marriage Project • July 2005

The State of Our Unions 2004: The Social Health of Marriage in America
This annual report from the National Marriage Project provides information on marriage, divorce, unmarried cohabitation and attitudes towards marriage in 2004.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• The National Marriage Project • June 2004

What's Happening to Marriage?
This paper reports on long-term trends that point to the weakening of the institution of marriage.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• The National Marriage Project • 1999

Ten Important Research Findings on Marriage and Choosing a Marriage Partner: Helpful Facts for Young Adults
This article provides a list of ten helpful research facts young adults should know about marriage as they choose a partner.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• The National Marriage Project • November 2004

Marriage and Welfare Reform: The Overwhelming Evidence that Marriage Education Works
This article looks at the effects of the 1996 welfare reform law to strengthen and increase the number of two-parent families in the United States.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• The Heritage Foundation • October 25, 2002

Marriage and Welfare Reform: The Overwhelming Evidence That Marriage Education Works
This research brief summarizes the results of 29 peer-reviewed social science journal articles which show that marriage education in the United States has had a positive impact on the nation's marital unions.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Heritage Foundation, Washington, DC • October 25, 2002

Learning, Family Formation and Dissolution
This paper investigates the effect that educational attainment has on people's decisions about marriage and childbearing, as well as on their risk of experiencing a divorce.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• The Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning • June 01, 2002

Fragile Families and Welfare Reform: An Introduction
This working paper assesses the effectiveness of welfare reforms in the United States by first considering four key areas of family life and income: the capabilities and resources of parents on welfare, the nature of parents' relationship, the involvement of fathers with their children and the nature of the local policy and labour markets.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Joint Center for Poverty Research • January 8, 2002

Prayer and Marital Intervention: A Conceptual Framework
This article offers a framework which would integrate prayer into marital interventions.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• National Institutes of Health • September 1, 2008

The Psychological Benefits of Marriage
This report explores findings that show that married people tend to have a greater sense of psychological wellbeing than non married people and explores why marriage is related to lower levels of depression.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Maxim Institute • March 2007

Spiritual Behaviors and Relationship Satisfaction: A Critical Analysis of the Role of Prayer
This article looks at studies which examine the role of spirituality and prayer in the development of young adult relationships.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Guilford Press • 2008

Intrapersonal Processes and Post-Abortion Relationship Challenges:
This report uses data on abortion and intimate relationships to analyse the possible adverse effects of abortion on the quality of an interpersonal relationship.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• The Internet Journal of Mental Health • 2007

Long-Term Effects of Child Sexual Abuse
This paper looks at the impact of child sexual abuse on adulthood sexuality, intimacy, stability of future relationships, self-esteem, alcohol abuse, mental health, and socio-economic status.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Australian Institute of Family Studies • Autumn 1996

Marital and Nonmarital Union Separation In Canada
This paper examines trends of marital and nonmarital separation in Canada including how employment outside the home, school enrollment, pregnancy, children and age may influence changes in union life.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• XXIV General Population Conference of the International Union for Scientific Study of Population - Aug. 18 - 24, 2001 • 2003

Relationship Quality Dynamics of Cohabiting Unions
This paper examines the stability, duration and quality of cohabiting relationships and it evaluates whether the presence of children or the experience of a prior union affect the duration of such relationships.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Center for Family and Demographic Research • 2000

Premarital Cohabitation and Marital Stability
This paper investigates the stability of cohabiting versus married relationships, and finds that premarital cohabitation increases marital instability as well as the risk of separation and divorce.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Australian Institute of Family Studies • March 13, 2003

The Relative Stability of Cohabiting and Marital Unions for Children
This paper demonstrates that, regardless of ethnicity, children in cohabiting unions experience greater instability than children born into married families.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Center for Family and Demographic Research • 2004

Does Marriage Improve a Cohabiting Relationship?
This paper explores the impact of marriage on cohabiting relationships and finds that, overall, marriage is beneficial for cohabiting couples.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Center for Family and Demographic Research • 2001

Sexual Frequency and the Stability of Marital and Cohabiting Unions
In this study, the authors utilize data from the National Survey of Families and Households to suggest that low sexual frequency is associated with significantly higher rates of union dissolution in cohabitating relationships than in marital unions.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• School of Family and Social Dynamics and Center for Population Dynamics, Arizona State University • 2007

WHY CONGRESS SHOULD IGNORE RADICAL FEMINIST OPPOSITION TO MARRIAGE
This article provides a historical review of feminism, as well as relevant research on marriage and family, ...
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• The Heritage Foundation • June 16, 2003

Making Marriage Matter
This lecture highlights the efforts of Frank Keating (the Governor of Oklahoma) to strengthen families and strengthen marriage in Oklahoma.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• The Heritage Foundation • September 27, 2000

Growing Evidence for a “Divorce Divide”? Education and Marital Dissolution Rates in the U.S. since the 1970s.
This paper examines divorce trends across racial and educational groups in the United States.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Russell Sage Foundation • c. 2002

The New Chronology of Union Formation: Strategies for Measuring Changing Pathways
This paper examines changing patterns of dating, courtship and union formation in the United States and discusses factors that contribute to these changes.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services • November 2003

Married and Poor: Basic Characteristics of Economically Disadvantaged Couples in the U.S.
Using existing research and surveys, this paper presents statistics relating to the formation, duration, quality, and characteristics of marriage among low-income couples in the United States.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• MDRC • July 2004

The Long-Term Effects of the Minnesota Family Investment Program on Marriage and Divorce Among Two-Parent Families
This report examines the long term effects of a welfare-to-work reform program in Minnesota on the marriage and divorce outcomes of two-parent families who participated in the reform initiative.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• MDRC • October 2003

Children and the Stability of Cohabiting Couples
This paper seeks to determine whether or not having children increases the stability of cohabiting couples' relationships.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Center for Family and Demographic Research • 2000

Marriage In Canada
This poll asked 1310 married individuals extensive questions about their interactions with their spouse and satisfaction with their marriage.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Ipsos-Reid • March 01, 2003

Transitions to Caregiving, Marital Disagreement, and Psychological Well-Being
This paper discusses the psychological effects of being a caregiver and how the individual's adjustment to caregiving affects marital discord.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Center for Demography and Ecology • 2003

Positive Expectations in the Early Years of Marriage: Should Couples Expect the Best or Brace for the Worst?
This paper examines the role that expectations play in contributing to couples' reports of marital quality and satisfaction.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• American Psychological Association • 2004

Marital Status Stability, Marital Transitions, and Health: A Life Course Perspective
This paper examines the effect of marital status continuity and change on an individual's physical health and well-being, and finds that these effects vary considerably according to an individual's gender and age.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Population Research Center • 2001

Religious Observance: Marriage and Family
This article argues that religion has a significant influence on an individual's attitudes on sex, marriage, and family.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Statistics Canada • Autumn 1998

Cohabitation, Marriage and Union Stability: Preliminary Findings from NSFH2
This paper examines popular attitudes towards sex, relationships, and non-marital childbearing, as well as trends in cohabitation and the stability of cohabiting versus married relationships.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Center for Demography and Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison • May 1995

Job Turnover, Wage Rates, and Marital Stability: How Are They Related?
This paper examines the relationship between marital instability, earnings, and job stability among young men.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Institute for the Study of Labor • January 2005

Economic Pressure in Rural Families: Couple Interactions that Reduce Risk for Emotional Distress and Marital Instability
This research aims to discover potential strategies for reducing the adverse consequences of economic hardship on marriage.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Mental Health Statistics Improvement Program • August 1995

Socio-demographic Predictors of Divorce
This paper examines divorce trends in developed countries and seeks to determine whether or not there are socio-demographic characteristics that elevate an individual's risk of divorce.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Lord Chancellor's Department • 1999

What Policy Developments Would Be Most Likely to Secure an Improvement in Marital Quality
This paper discusses the extent to which government policy may be able to promote marital stability in Britain.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Lord Chancellor's Department • 1999

Marriage or Partnering? Effects of Cohabitation and Family Structure Changes on Early Adolescent Well-Being
This paper investigates the effects of marriage, cohabitation and relationship stability on adolescents' cognitive, social, and emotional well-being.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• National Poverty Center • September 2003

Men Without Sawmills: Masculinity, Rural Poverty, and Family Stability
This paper examines the effects of job loss and unemployment on men's feelings of masculinity in rural settings, and the effect that this has on their ability to maintain functional family relationships.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Rural Poverty Research Center • May 2005

Cohabitation: A Snapshot
This paper examines patterns of cohabitation in the United States, the characteristics of cohabiters, the quality and length of their relationships, and the relationship between cohabitation, marriage, and divorce.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Center for Law and Social Policy • May 1998

Cross-Cultural Marriages
This paper examines the prevalence, characteristics and outcomes of marriages in the Netherlands in which at least one of the partners was born outside of the Netherlands.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Statistics Netherlands, Department of Population • December 1999

Dissolutions of Unions in Europe: A Comparative Overview
This paper provides an overview of patterns and trends in marital survival and dissolution in various countries in Western and Eastern Europe.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research • February 7, 2003

Proposed Reforms of Marital Institutions
This paper makes several proposals about reforming marriage and the family.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• The University of Chicago • May 2000

Does Divorce Risk Depend on Spouses' Relative Income? A Register-Based Study of First Marriages in Sweden in
This study finds strong evidence that high female income in a marriage is positively associated with greater risk of divorce in Sweden, despite egalitarian gender ideals and very high rates of female employment.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research • February 2004

Marriage in Russia: A Reconstruction
This study examines marriage rates and individuals' marital histories in Russia over the course of the twentieth century.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research • February 26, 2004

The Demographics of Same-Sex "Marriages" in Norway and Sweden
This paper provides an overview of the demographic characteristics of couples in same-sex marriages in Sweden and Norway, including age, sex, experience of prior opposite-sex marriage, biological parenthood, and educational attainment.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research • June 2004

Toward the Prevention of Marital and Family Stress
This paper provides a brief overview of the author’s work on the prevention of marital and family distress, including a new study designed to test the extent to which the results of a divorce prevention program can be disseminated.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• CMHS/ Mental Health Statistics Improvement Program • June 01, 2003

Why Marriages Last: A Discussion of the Literature
This paper discusses the existing literature on the factors that contribute to creating a lasting marriage.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Australian Institute of Family Studies • July 01, 2002

Do Children Make a Marriage Unhappy?
This article critiques the perception that having children decreases marital satisfaction.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Brigham Young University • July 01, 2000

“Just Get Me to the Church…”: Assessing Policies to Promote Marriage among Fragile Families
This paper assesses the effectiveness of several strategies designed to promote marriage among unwed parents.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Center for Research on Child Wellbeing • February 01, 2002

Is it Money or Marriage That Keeps People Alive?
This study examines the relative impact of marriage and income on longevity.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Warwick University Department of Economics • August 01, 2002

Restoring a Culture of Marriage: Good News for Policymakers From the Fragile Families Survey
This article discusses the findings of the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Survey and emphasizes the importance of promoting marriage among unmarried parents.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• The Heritage Foundation • June 01, 2002

Effects of Child Health on Parents’ Relationship Status
This study suggests that unmarried parents' commitment to their relationship is likely to decline if they have a child with poor health, particularly in families with a lower socio-economic status.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Center for Research on Child Wellbeing • December 01, 2003

The Verdict on Cohabitation vs. Marriage
This article looks at the benefits of marriage over cohabitation.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Brigham Young University • 2001

Early Marriage Among Women in Developing Countries
This study of marriage patterns in developing countries examines current patterns in marital age among women and the influence of socio-economic factors, such as women's educational and employment opportunities, on marital age.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• The Allan Guttmacher Institute • December 01, 1996

Reforming Divorce Law
This paper discusses the history of divorce, the impact of no-fault divorce legislation, how women fare under current divorce laws, and issues pertaining to child custody agreements.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Centre for Independent Studies • September 01, 2003

Is There an Advantage to Being Born to Married Versus Cohabiting Parents? Differences in Child Behavior
This paper demonstrates that children born to married parents have fewer behavioural problems than those born to parents in a cohabiting relationship.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Center for Research on Child Wellbeing • July 01, 2003

Cleaning Up Their Act: The Impacts of Marriage and Cohabitation on Licit and Illicit Drug Use
This paper examines the impact of marriage or cohabitation on the risk behaviours of young adults, such as binge drinking, smoking, and marijuana consumption.
• Category: Marriage > Relational Stability
• Northwestern University • August 25, 2003