Alan J. Hawkins

Does Marriage and Relationship Education Work? A Meta-Analytic Study

In this meta-analytic study, the authors examined the efficacy of marriage and relationship education (MRE) on 2 common outcomes: relationship quality and communication skills. A thorough search produced 86 codable reports that yielded 117 studies and more than 500 effect sizes. The effect sizes for relationship quality for experimental studies ranged from d = .30 to .36, while the communication skills effect sizes ranged from d = .43 to .45. Quasi-experimental studies generated smaller effect sizes, but these appeared to be due to pretest group differences. Moderate-dosage programs produced larger effect sizes than did low-dosage programs. For communication skills, published studies had larger effects than those of unpublished studies at follow-up; there were no publication differences for relationship quality. There was no evidence of a gender difference. Unfortunately, a lack of racial/ethnic and economic diversity in the samples prevented reliable conclusions about the effectiveness of MRE for disadvantaged couples, a crucial deficit in the body of research. In addition, intervention outcomes important to policy makers, such as relationship stability and aggression, rarely have been addressed.

The Inventory of Father Involvement: A Pilot Study of a New Measure of Father Involvement

As the study of fathering has matured in recent years, fathering scholars have recognized the need for richer, broader measures of the construct of father involvement (Hawkins & Palkovitz, 1999). In an effort to create a measure sensitive to affective, cognitive, and direct and indirect behavioral components of involvement, 100 items were initially generated. Of these, 43 were selected for the “Inventory of Father Involvement” (IFI). Fathers (N = 723) reported on “how good a job” they were doing on the 43 indicators of father involvement. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses yielded nine relatively distinct first-order factors, indicating a single, global second-order factor of father involvement. The final model confirms a shorter, 26-item version of the IFI that reflects a multi-dimensional concept of father involvement.

Beyond Ticks and Clicks: The Need for More Diverse and Broader Conceptualizations and Measures of Father Involvement

Father involvement has been conceptualized and measured primarily as a temporal and directly observable phenomenon. This paper describes the problems associated with this narrow conceptualization and argues for the need to explore broader, more diverse, and inclusive conceptualizations and measures of father involvement. We review nascent, recent scholarship that supports this assertion, outline ways to improve conceptualization and measurement, and specify the benefits that would flow from this effort.

Father's Presence and Young Children's Behavioral and Cognitive Adjustment

The present study examined the impact of the biological father on young childrens cognitive and behavioral adjustment. Using data from the 1986 Child Supplement of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, the relationship between fathers coresidence in the household over the first 3 years of a childs life and childrens adjustment was assessed for 1,688 four-to six-year-old children. Two dimensions of father-presence were considered, reflecting the timing of the fathers entry into the household and the duration of his presence during the childs first 3 years of life. Within-group analyses of variance indicated significant effects of father-presence for White and Hispanic children and for children born to teenage and older mothers. All of these initial effects disappeared, however, once controls for child characteristics, maternal characteristics, and family resources were introduced in multiple regression models. These findings suggest that the father-effects operated through family characteristics and did not represent unique effects of fathering.

Does Relationship and Marriage Education for Lower-Income Couples Work? A Meta-Analytic Study of Emerging Research

While a large number of studies have documented how couple education programs can strengthen couple relationships, few studies have tested these programs on lower-income, higher-risk couples. Yet over the past decade, state and federal governments have been experimenting with supporting couple education programs designed to help lower-income couples form and sustain healthy marriages and relationships. This article reports the findings of a meta-analytic study of the effectiveness of couple education targeted to lower-income couples. We examined evaluation data from 15 programs and found small-to-moderate effects. For the three control-group studies, we found the overall effect of these programs was d = .250 (p < .05). For the 12 one-group/pre-post studies, we found the overall effect was d = .293 (p < .001). These effects are relatively similar to those found for MRE studies with middle-income participants and for studies of other family-support educational programs. Implications for couple educators are discussed.

A Conceptual Ethic of Generative Fathering

In this paper, the authors propose a “conceptual ethic” of fathering. This framework is presented as an example of a nondeficit perspective of fathering rooted in the proposed ethical obligation for fathers to meet the needs of the next generation. We conceptualize fathering as generative work, rather than as a social role embedded in a changing sociohistorical context. The framework is based on two central ideas: that the human context creates needs in the next generation that fathers have an ethical responsibility and capability to meet, and that both fathers and children benefit and grow from this work. Narrative accounts are used to illustrate the model. We also present findings from research and mention applications that are based on the generative perspective.

Exploring Programmatic Moderators of the Effectiveness of Marriage and Relationship Education Programs: A Meta-Analytic Study ☆

This study uses meta-analytic methods to explore programmatic moderators or common factors of the effectiveness of marriage and relationship education (MRE) programs. We coded 148 evaluation reports for potential programmatic factors that were associated with stronger intervention effects, although the range of factors we could code was limited by the lack of details in the reports. Overall, we found a positive effect for program dosage: moderate-dosage programs (9-20 contact hours) were associated with stronger effects compared to low-dosage programs (1-8 contact hours). A programmatic emphasis on communication skills was associated with stronger effects on couple communication outcomes, but this difference did not reach statistical significance for the relationship quality/satisfaction outcome. There was no evidence that institutionalized MRE programs (formal manuals, ongoing presence, formal instructor training, multiple evaluations) were associated with stronger effects. Similarly, there was little evidence of differences in program setting (university/laboratory vs. religious). We discuss possible explanations for these findings and implications for program design and evaluation.

The Relationship Between Father Involvement in Family Leisure and Family Functioning: The Importance of Daily Family Leisure

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between fathers’ involvement in family leisure and aspects of family functioning from both a father and young adolescent perspective. The sample consisted of fathers and their adolescent child from 647 families throughout the United States. Results from both the father and youth perspective indicated significant relationships between father involvement in both core and balance family leisure with family cohesion, family adaptability, and overall family functioning. Satisfaction with core family leisure that included the fathers involvement was the single strongest predictor of all aspects of family functioning from both perspectives highlighting the importance of regularly occurring home-based family activities such as eating dinner together, participating in hobbies and informal sports or yard activities together, watching television together, or playing board games and video games together. Discussion and implications for fathers, families, practitioners, and future research are presented.

Does parental mediation of media influence child outcomes? A meta-analysis on media time, aggression, substance use, and sexual behavior.

The current study examined how parental mediation of media (restrictive mediation, active mediation, and coviewing) influenced child outcomes. Three meta-analyses, 1 for each type of mediation, were conducted on a total of 57 studies. Each analysis assessed the effectiveness of parental mediation on 4 pertinent child outcomes: media use, aggression, substance use, and sexual behavior. The overall results indicated small, but significant relationships between child outcomes and restrictive mediation (r+ = -.06), and coviewing (r+ = .09). Overall active mediation was nonsignificant, though active mediation was individually related to lower levels of aggression (r+ = -.08), sexual behavior (r+ = -.06), and substance use (r+ = -.11). This analysis revealed that parents may have the ability to mitigate some of the adverse effects of the media by using certain mediation strategies. Overall, a cooperative effort from the communication and parenting fields is necessary for a comprehensive analysis of parental mediation as well as a disentanglement of the various parental mediation measures. (PsycINFO Database Record

A More Optimistic Perspective on Government-Supported Marriage and Relationship Education Programs for Lower Income Couples.

Comments on the original article by Matthew D. Johnson (see record 2012-08242-001). It is important to challenge some of Johnsons points about the effectiveness and reach of interventions to lower income couples and couples of color and his suggested prioritization of basic over applied research. With emerging findings and practical knowledge gained in lower income communities from all across the United States over the past decade, we see evidence to support optimism for the potential utility of marriage and relationship education (MRE) programs to help disadvantaged and minority couples. Accordingly, continued support for these efforts is justified. We anticipate that the potential of these first-generation programs will only increase as the research Johnson called for advances our understanding of low-income and minority couple relationships, as more programs are rigorously evaluated, and as we learn and disseminate best practices from programs now in the field.