Brandon K. Burr

The Effectiveness of Relationship Education in the College Classroom

The effectiveness of relationship education (RE) has been a topic of great interest over the last decade, as has the focus on emerging adulthood as an important developmental stage. However, few studies have investigated the effectiveness of RE with emerging adults who may be single or early in dating relationships, instead focusing primarily on engaged couples or married couples. This study investigated the effectiveness of RE with emerging adults in a college course on relationship dynamics. Using the Within My Reach curriculum, the authors found significant positive increases in attitudes, knowledge, communication skills, and relationship characteristics. The implications of these findings and future directions are discussed.

What Are Couples Saying About Relationship Education? A Content Analysis

Concerns regarding the impact of relationship distress and divorce have prompted various federal, state, and local initiatives to offer couple relationship education (CRE) programs to help couples build and maintain healthy relationships. Recent reports have shown CRE to have several positive effects. Still, challenges pertaining to recruitment and retention have limited the reach and potential impact of CRE services. Also, in comparison to other family programs such as parent education, little is known about public perceptions of CRE. To better understand perceptions of CRE services and gain ideas for recruitment strategy, this study applied content analysis methodology to 99 couple discussions on the pros and cons of attending relationship education. Ideas for CRE programmers are discussed in light of study findings.

The Intergenerational Transmission of Financial Stress and Relationship Outcomes

Numerous studies have focused on the intergenerational transmission of poverty, financial stress, and family functioning. Other research has shown how financial stressors can predict various family processes, including parent–child interactions, family conflict, and couple communication, and relationship outcomes, including marital stability and satisfaction. This study shows continued evidence that financial stress from the male and female partners family of origin may predict marital dissatisfaction using dyadic data techniques. Also, an exploration of indirect paths also found that the presence of current financial stress partially mediates these associations.

Generation to Generation: Passing on Religious and Spiritual Beliefs and Practices

Many families face difficulties in maintaining healthy relationships. Past research has identified that religious and/or spiritual beliefs and practices can enhance family well-being. Research has also shown that religious and/or beliefs and practices can shape the aging process. Yet there exists little information on the methods through which religious and/or spiritual beliefs are passed on to future generations. This study utilized Eriksonian conceptual ideas, and grounded theory methods to conduct interviews with 13 older adults on the process through which religious and/or spiritual beliefs are passed on to children and grandchildren. Ideas are discussed for practitioners based on study findings.

The Development and Validation of the Couple and Relationship Education Attitudes Index: Results from Two Studies

ABSTRACT As relationship educators work to reach more participants for their programs, they often face challenges with recruitment and retention. The theory of planned behavior, along with research, posits that attitudes are often predictive of behavior, and that attitudes toward education and help-seeking can be varied by unique contexts. This paper reports on the development and validation of an index that measures attitudes toward couple relationship education (CRE). The two scales within this index (benefits of CRE & CRE is not a good fit) assess how comfortable individuals are with CRE. The results from two studies support the validation of the index and show how CRE attitudes are linked to relational factors and a measure of intentions to attend CRE, using the scales within the index. Implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed.

“We thought it would be easy”: recruitment challenges, successes and best practices for low-income couple populations

Abstract Recruitment challenges present ongoing struggles for social science professionals. Especially problematic are recruiting endeavors when target populations are highly stressed, highly mobile, and are comprised of couples rather than individuals. Included in this study is a rationale supporting the need to study recruitment challenges coupled with a literature review discussing recent recruitment research summaries. Based upon a Delphi-type discussion with couples relationship education (CRE) experts, our team constructed a qualitative study to examine recruitment challenges in low-income CRE programs. Fourteen interviews were conducted with “successful” program leaders identified by federal regional managers within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF). Data were analyzed, and results detailing four main “challenge” themes, four “success” themes, and a seven-step best practice model are presented.

Generations learning together: pilot study for a multigenerational program

ABSTRACT Generations need to spend time in meaningful activities to facilitate more healthy interactions. An interdisciplinary team worked together to implement an enriching, intergenerational project with 4 year olds, college students, and older adults. College students played an active role in planning/facilitating activities. The overall objective of the research was assessing perceptional change between the generations using pre/posttests with college students, pre-post interviews with older adults, and pre-post teacher led discussions with children. Findings suggest that older adults and college students had improved perceptions. Children’s perceptions remained negative with some positive perceptions.

Service Learning in Family Life Education: Incorporating High-Impact Strategies in Undergraduate Family Science Programming

Bertram and Burr begin discussion with the properties of service-learning that make it an effective practice to support student learning and support students in Family Life Education. They focus the discussion to the instructional level of planning a service-learning project highlighting the approaches of transmission, transaction, and transformation. They follow with discussion over the embedded high-impact elements such as spending time on meaningful tasks, interacting about substantive matters, experiencing diversity, application of activities to different settings on/off campus. The authors conclude that students’ awareness of community needs may increase as an outcome of service learning and can help them be more prepared to plan effective programming as Family Life Educators as well as provide an opportunity where students gain professional skills and knowledge and experience personal growth.

Incorporating Relationship Education into a College Class on Marriage

Many couples experience difficulty from relationship distress and/or divorce. Some research suggests that teaching relationship education (RE) to emerging adults before many enter long-term committed relationships can reduce relationship difficulty and promote healthy relationship behaviors. Yet, very little investigation has been conducted with RE and emerging adults. This study incorporated important concepts from the Within My Reach RE curriculum into an existing college class on marriage and comparisons were made with a class who did not receive RE on several variables. Results showed that those in the revised class showed significant gains in relationship confidence, insight, and healthy decision-making over the control class. Implications for practitioners and researchers are provided based on study findings.

Building Communities: College Preparation Education for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

ABSTRACT Nationwide about 4.2 million households have grandparents and grandchildren co-residing. Of those homes, 67% showed the grandparent(s) as the householder(s) (Current Population Survey, 2012). In Oklahoma, 100,213 children under age 18 live in a home headed by grandparents or other relatives (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). Nearly 80,000 children live with grandparents as heads of the household (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). Typically, children raised by grandparents do not attend college. Two college preparatory trainings for grandparents and adolescent children were held on university campuses. Grandparents and grandchildren were given student-led tours of the campus, financial aid information, information about careers and how to work with school counselors, and information about the state’s free tuition incentive program. Pre- and posttests were used to assess changes in awareness of both grandparents and grandchildren of college opportunities and information. Follow-up focus groups were conducted with participants.