The Economic Benefits of Marriage and Family Strengthening Programs

Shamblen, Stephen R.; Gluck, Andrew H.; Wubbenhorst, William H.; Collins, David

doi:10.1007/s10834-018-9565-8

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Beginning in the early 2000's, TANF funds were invested in the creation and delivery of Healthy Marriage Initiatives (HMI), redirecting funds from direct cash assistance to lower‐income families toward programs focused on strengthening intimate relationships (Karney et al, 2018 ). In the past two decades, the US federal government has invested over $1 billion dollars in Healthy Marriage Initiatives (Randles, 2016 ), with programs spending approximately $7,000‐$11,000 per couple (Shamblen et al, 2018 ).…”

Section: Policy Responses To Assist Families During Pre‐covid Timesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strengthening lower‐income families: Lessons learned from policy responses to the COVID‐19 pandemic

2021

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Families are navigating an unstable economy due to COVID‐19. Financial stressors have the potential to strain intimate relationships and exacerbate prior inequities across lower‐income families. Notably, the economic impact of COVID‐19 disproportionately influenced Black and Latinx families. As a response to families' economic adversity during the pandemic, the federal government initiated the CARES Act. This type of federal response to lower‐income families, however, is not new. The purpose of this paper is to contextualize and historicize previous and current efforts to mitigate the consequences of financial hardship on families by comparing the assumptions and efficacy of the Healthy Marriages Initiative and the CARES act. We conclude with four recommendations to promote well‐being in lower‐income families: (1) acknowledging and reducing inequities that disproportionally impact families racialized as Black or Latinx; (2) intervening to mitigate stressors surrounding families; (3) using innovative methods to deliver relationship education; and (4) considering prevention versus intervention strategies.

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Section: Policy Responses To Assist Families During Pre‐covid Timesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strengthening lower‐income families: Lessons learned from policy responses to the COVID‐19 pandemic

2021

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“…Finally, Shamblen et al ( 2018 ) evaluated a program meant to strengthen marriage and family life. They found the program had modest effects for the participants in some life domains, but no effects in other domains.…”

Section: Important Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Related to my last point, a final call for future marriage and cohabitation research is to generate more applied and translational research. Only one of the studies I reviewed went beyond basic research (Shamblen et al 2018 ). Interestingly, many of the studies that I reviewed covered prosaic, that is every day or mundane, issues with which couples regularly struggle.…”

Section: More Applied/translational Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ten Years of Marriage and Cohabitation Research in the Journal of Family and Economic Issues

Dew

2020

J Fam Econ Iss

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I reviewed the 36 marriage and cohabitation studies from the Journal of Family and Economic Issues articles published between 2010–2019. Nearly all of the studies used quantitative methods, and two-thirds of them used publicly available nationally-representative data. The studies fell into roughly five, unevenly sized groups: family structure, relationship quality, division of labor/employment, money management, and an “other” category. Suggestions for future research include applying some of the important questions within the articles to underrepresented groups, further examining the process of how finances and relationship quality interrelate and doing more applied and translational research.

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Measurement of the Concentration of Potential Quality of Life in Local Communities

Tomaš

2022

Soc Indic Res

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The Economic Benefits of Marriage and Family Strengthening Programs

Cited by 6 publications

References 34 publications

Strengthening lower‐income families: Lessons learned from policy responses to the COVID‐19 pandemic

Strengthening lower‐income families: Lessons learned from policy responses to the COVID‐19 pandemic

Ten Years of Marriage and Cohabitation Research in the Journal of Family and Economic Issues

Measurement of the Concentration of Potential Quality of Life in Local Communities

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