Community marriage initiatives

Abstract

This article reviews the development of community marriage initiatives and their relationship with family professionals, with particular emphasis on sociohistorical context. We describe five leading community marriage initiatives, discuss the state of the evaluation research, and propose new directions for this promising area of work.

Influence of a Statewide Marriage Initiative on Clergy Involvement in Marriage Preparation

“…Government-sponsored marriage initiatives often make programs available through community healthy marriage initiatives (CHMIs; Doherty & Anderson, 2004). CHMIs involve individuals from the community who are stakeholders in the marriage movement, including business owners, government officials, educators, and, in particular, clergy, who have been identified as the main providers of marital education (Doherty & Anderson, 2004;Glenn, 2005;Stanley et al, 2001).…”

“…CHMIs involve individuals from the community who are stakeholders in the marriage movement, including business owners, government officials, educators, and, in particular, clergy, who have been identified as the main providers of marital education (Doherty & Anderson, 2004;Glenn, 2005;Stanley et al, 2001). These organizations use numerous activities to promote healthy marriages and relationships, including websites, media campaigns, marriage education classes, and marriage education training for clergy and lay leaders (Doherty & Anderson, 2004).…”

“…Given that many of these initiatives receive public or private funding, it is imperative that funds are channeled to the sources, people, and activities that have the potential to be most productive. Because clergy are recognized as a priority group to be trained and provide services to couples (Doherty & Anderson, 2004;Glenn, 2005), leaders and government officials need to know what impact statewide supportive efforts and trainings have on these key providers. This information includes whether clergy and lay leaders are attending the trainings, being effectively trained, and disseminating their new knowledge to couples.…”

“…In response, a number of state governments developed programs to strengthen marriages through public-funded interventions (Brotherson & Duncan, 2004;Public Law 109-171, Section 7103, 2006). Given that the vast majority of marriage preparation is provided in a religious context (Hart, 2003), many of these funded programs directly or indirectly involve clergy participation (Doherty & Anderson, 2004;Johnson et al, 2002;Murray, 2005), thus necessitating an evaluation of these efforts. This study focuses on the influence of a statewide initiative on clergy attitudes and behaviors related to marriage preparation, specifically the use of the Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP; Stanley, Blumberg, & Markman, 1999), adoption of practices outlined in the Oklahoma Marriage Covenant, attitudes toward marriage preparation, and awareness of a healthy marriage initiative.…”

Latino Youth Participation in Community Programs

“…Much information and programming for Latinos is not culturally relevant. Therefore, there is a need for research to be conducted within a cultural context (DeMaria, 2005;Doherty & Anderson, 2004;Ooms & Wilson, 2004;Willey & Ebata, 2004).…”