Healthy Marriage and Your Community

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Healthy Marriage and Your Community
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Jennifer L. Baker, Psy.D. Anne B. Summers, Ph.D.
Debbi Steinmann, M.A. Training Instructor /
MentorsMelissa A. Gibson, M.S. Kim Rozell, M.A.
Graduate AssistantsBrent Anderson,
M.S.Matthew Biller, M.A. Cate Brandon,
M.ATabitha Carlson, M.S.Dawn Clinard,
M.A.Jessie Clinton, M.S. Anup Jonathan Tony
Larson, B.A. Nicole Mannis, M.A. Robert
Mindrup, M.S.S.W.Colleen Quinn, Ph.D.Amber
Schafner, M.A.Amanda Schroeder, B.S.

• The Training for the Healthy Marriage and Family
  Formation curriculum was created through the
  cooperative efforts of

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Characteristics of Healthy Families

• A legitimate source of authority.
• Stable rule system consistently acted upon.
• Stable and consistent shares of nurturing
  behavior.
• A set of goals which the family and each
  individual works toward.
• Ability to be flexible and to accommodate normal
  developmental challenges.
• Effective childrearing and marriage-maintenance
  practices.

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Characteristics of Healthy Families

• In a two-parent home, it is unlikely that you
  would have a healthy family without a healthy
  marriage as a foundation.
• Marriage itself will not cure problems.
• Some marriages are not healthy and marriage is
  not an option for everyone.
• For those who choose marriage, having a healthy
  marriage has profound benefits.

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Benefits of Marriage for Adults

• Longer life
• Less depressed and less anxious than single,
  divorced, or widowed people
• Leads to specialization in household chores,
  which increases efficiency
• More money

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Benefits of Marriage for Adults

• More active sex lives than singles
• Greater satisfaction in their sexual relationship
  than cohabiting couples

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Benefits of Marriage for Women

• Marriage reduces the risk that mothers will
  suffer from domestic abuse.
• The annual rate of domestic violence for
  never-married mothers is more than double that of
  mothers who have been married at least once.

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Benefits of Marriage for Men

• Less likely to use drugs and drink excessively
• A stronger network of support
• Earn more money
• A greater sense of responsibility leads to
  increased productivity
• Save more money than single men at the same
  income level

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Benefits of Cohabitation Are Not Equal

• Marital Norms
• Marriage carries an expectation of permanence.
• Marriage establishes norms of adult heterosexual
  masculinity.
• Marriage promotes men to be sexually faithful.
• Marriage calls for accountability, sacrifice, and
  commitment.
• Marriage encourages men to attach themselves to
  the mother of their children.

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Benefits of Marriage for Children

• Rates of serious child abuse are lowest in the
  intact married family.
• 6 times higher in the stepfamily
• 14 times higher in the always-single-mother
  family
• 20 times higher in cohabiting-biological parent
  families
• 33 times higher when the mother is cohabiting
  with a boyfriend who is not the father

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Benefits of Marriage for Children

• Less likely to become teenage parents.
• Less likely to grow up poor.
• Twice as likely to stay in high school.
• Higher educational achievements.

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Benefits of Marriage for Children

• Higher job attainment.
• Fewer behavioral and emotional problems.
• Increase in father involvement.

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Healthy Couples, Healthy Communities
Cost of Unstable Relationships to Employers,
Co-Workers, and Customers

• 30 of sick time is due to family conflict.
• This undercuts the companys bottom line,
  increases fellow employees workloads, and may
  increase personnel issues.
• Lost work time associated with marital problems
  is estimated at 6.8 billion per year.

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Healthy Couples, Healthy Communities
Schools Impact on Teachers, Students, and
Administrators

• Children experiencing the break up of their home
  are more prone to delinquency, behavior problems,
  and incidents with teachers and students.
• Helping children cope often becomes the schools
  job.

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Healthy Couples, Healthy Communities

• Government Agencies, Policy Makers, and
  Recipients
• Financial costs due to divorce are
• extreme, causing the need for
• increased government assistance.
• As need increases, more civil
• servants are required, more policies
• are necessary, and the tax burden
• increases as the tax base decreases.
• Workload for judges has risen
• substantially due to divorce
• proceedings, custody issues, and
• domestic crimes.

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Healthy Couples Healthy Communities

• Churches Impact on Program Leaders, Members, and
  Ministers
• The needs of people experiencing divorce are
  great which may overburden pastors, church staff,
  members and others.
• The fracturing of families decreases the chance
  of family participation in activities and
  financial support of the ministry.

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Healthy Marriage Healthy Communities
Community Impact on local economy, businesses,
and housing market

• The local economy suffers when marriages end.
• Divorcing couples have decreased expendable
  income, creating fewer potential customers for
  local shops and service providers.
• Divorcing couples tend to have increased debt
  loads and personal bankruptcies are high.

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Bringing it home . . .

• To find data on how these problems are affecting
  your area, check these sources
• Local school districts
• State and local divisions of
• social services
• U.S. Census Bureau
• http//www.census.gov
• Kids Count Census Data Online
• http//www.aecf.org/kidscount/
• census/

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• Community Healthy Marriage Initiatives

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What is a Community Healthy Marriage Initiative
(CHMI)?

• A CHMI is a non-profit organization dedicated
  to strengthening families through education and
  outreach. The goal is to enable the community to
  strengthen families by encouraging and supporting
  a marriage-friendly culture.

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What Does a CHMI Do?

• It provides resources.
• It serves as a liaison between people who seek
  those services and the providers who offer them.
• Areas of focus may vary
• They do not provide direct services, such as
  counseling.

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Who Benefits from a CHMI?

• EVERYONE!!!
• Better physical health
• Lower social costs
• Improved business productivity and profits
• Lower crime and poverty rates
• Benefits for children

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The Role a Community Healthy Marriage Initiative
Can Play in Welfare Reform
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Importance of CHMIs

• Broaden our understanding of child support
  enforcement.
• Children need more than just financial support.
• Children need their fathers involved in all
  aspects of their well-being.

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Importance of CHMIs

• Support incarcerated parents.
• Develop parenting skills
• Foster reconnections when appropriate
• CHMIs can offer much needed support for the
  social services currently available.
• Increase available resources in your area

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What CHMIs Are Truly About

• The goal is to help families become less
  dependent on governmental assistance.
• Emphasis is on healthier marriages.
• Offering programs designed to develop the skills
  couples need to be successful.

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What CHMIs Are Truly About

• Non-neutrality
• Government should not be neutral or apathetic
  about healthy marriage.
• Action
• . . .we should be ready to move ahead with
  programs that have a reasonable history of
  success. Dr. Wade Horn

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What is a Community Marriage Policy (CMP)?
A document signed by an ecumenical group of
clergy committed to five goals

• Require rigorous marriage preparation.
• Renew existing marriages.
• Restore troubled marriages.
• Reconcile the separated.
• Revive stepfamilies.

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Three Strategies That Decrease Divorce

• Premarital education of basic relationship
  skills.
• Use of a premarital inventory to determine the
  couples strengths and growth areas.
• Use of couples with strong marriages to mentor
  engaged or troubled couples.

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• Families Northwest
• http//www.familiesnorthwest.org/
• First Things First
• http//www.firstthings.org/
• Forest Institute of Professional Psychologys
  Marriage and Family Department
• http//www.forest.edu/academics/courses/marriage.h
  tml
• Healthy Marriages Grand Rapids
• http//www.healthymarriagesgr.org/
• Marriage Savers
• http//marriagesavers.org/
• Ozarks Marriage Matters
• http//www.ozarksmarriagematters.org

• Websites

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Raise Your Voice, Student Action for
Change http//www.actionforchange.org/getstarted/
howto-recruit.html Robert J. Murney Clinic at
Forest Institute of Professional
Psychology httpwww.forest.edu/clinic.index.html
Smart Marriages the coalition for marriage,
family and couples education http//www.smartmarr
iages.org/ U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services administration for children and
families http//www.acf.hhs.gov/healthymarriage/a
bout/mission.html
Websites
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Questions