Stephen F. Duncan

Putting families first : America's family support movement and the challenge of change

Sweeping social changes of the past three decades have dramatically altered American family life. At the same time, it has become increasingly clear that the strength of our society is inextricably linked to the strength of its families. In this book, leading scholars and practitioners in family support come together to reflect on the issues and challenges currently faced in the family support field and to offer insights into strengthening policies, programs, and services. Drawing on their diverse and unique perspectives, the authors examine the evolution of current principles and practices in family support and discuss future directions in quality services, training, and evaluation. They analyze the movement of family support programs into mainstream institutions such as schools, the workplace, churches, and prisons. And they project a vision in which family support approaches guide the manner in which systems, communities, and national policies work to promote family well-being.

Predictive Variables of Violent Behavior in Adolescent Males

This study examined the relationship of previously determined predictors of general delinquency to violent behavior of African American and Caucasian males. Independent variables included multiple measures of family and individual variables. With the exception of family structure, results indicated that predictors of violent behavior are similar to predictors of general delinquency. Differences between African American and Caucasians are highlighted. Recommendations for future research and application to prevention and intervention program development are offered.

A Comparison Evaluation Study of Web-Based and Traditional Marriage and Relationship Education

There is growing evidence that self-directed marriage relationship interventions can produce measured benefits. In this study we experimentally evaluate the potential of web-based marriage education, as a self-directed approach, to generate measurable positive outcomes in marriage relationships, compared with traditional marriage education and to a control group. Both website and traditional marriage education interventions produced positive changes to exceed those in the control group. There was no difference in the magnitude of change produced by the traditional versus the website intervention. Implications of the findings for marriage and relationship education are discussed.

Who Will Attend? Characteristics of Couples and Individuals in Marriage Education

There are two purposes of this marriage education marketing study: (1) to compare the self-reported intra- and interpersonal qualities of 121 married couples (n = 242 individuals) attending a marriage education program with 46 married couples (n = 92 individuals) who were contacted through marketing promotional materials to attend the program but did not participate and (2) to determine if intra- and/or interpersonal qualities would predict the likelihood of marriage education attendance versus nonattendance. Results showed that compared with program nonparticipants, program participants reported lower levels of self-esteem, marital communication quality, marital commitment, marital satisfaction, family strengths, less consensus and intimacy, less fulfillment of marriage expectations, and increased levels of marital conflict. Levels of religiosity and fusion were the same for participants and nonparticipants. Wald logistic regression analysis indicated communication was the only significant predictor of marriage education participation. Implications for marriage education programming and practitioners are outlined.

Stressors and Enhancers in the Marital/Family Life of Family Professionals and Their Spouses.

This study assesses how work as a family professional is uniquely enhancing and stressful, and whether enhancers and stressors are correlated with marital and family quality. Findings strengthen the idea that there are marital and family life enhancers and stressors uniquely associated with work as a family professional. The reported presence of certain stressors and enhancers was found to be correlated with marital quality and family life satisfaction. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Stressors and Enhancers in the Marital/Family Life of the Family Professional

This study assesses how work as a family professional is uniquely enhancing and stressful, from the perspective of family professionals and their spouses. Both family professionals and their spouses report significantly more enhancers than stressors. Family professionals report significantly more enhancers and stressors than their spouses. There is substantial agreement between spouses and family professionals about the major family life enhancers and stressors. Implications for training, policy, and future research are discussed.

Exploratory Analysis of Factors Associated with Participation in Self-Directed and Traditional Marriage and Relationship Education

Although self-directed marriage and relationship education (MRE) has the potential to reach a larger or different audience than traditional MRE, little has been done to examine the characteristics of self-directed MRE participants. This study examined whether various individual, couple, family, and sociocultural context variables predicted participation in both self-directed and traditional MRE programs. A series of logistic regressions were conducted on a cross-sectional data set. Different factors predicted participation for each intervention. For self-directed programs, factors predictive of involvement included older age, religiosity, higher education, being more self-regulated, having a neurotic partner, more open relationship boundaries, a history of divorce, more relationship problems, and more family-of-origin problems. A wider range of factors predicted participation in traditional programs. Some factors increasing odds for participation in one intervention decreased odds in the other. Implications for MRE are discussed. This study provides evidence that some higher risk couples may choose self-directed MRE over more traditional programs.

Marriage Preparation Education Programs: An Assessment of Their Components

In an effort to evaluate marriage preparation education (MPE) programs against recognized standards of program development, eight MPE programs were examined according to the four components (content, instructional process, implementation process, and evaluation process) of an evaluative model. A team of three researchers rated program components according to a determined set of rubric descriptors and offered qualitative comments associated with program utilization. Results showed that none of the selected programs scored consistently high or low on all program components measured. Most programs had research-supported foundations but were lacking in evaluation information and tools. Qualitative results highlighted strengths and weaknesses among current MPE programs. Recommendations are offered for improving MPE programs and professional standards in the field of MPE.

Helping Families Toward the Goal of Self-Support: Montana's EDUFAIM Program

This article on a self-reliance education program describes the development, implementation, and elements of success of Educating Families to Achieve Independence in Montana (EDUFAIM) as a model for statewide integration of efforts to help families dependent on public assistance move toward a more self-supporting lifestyle. An overview of the EDUFAIM program, from its beginnings to implementation strategies, open the article, followed by a discussion of the evidence of EDUFAIMs success, including effective collaboration, effective educational materials and teaching strategies, effective evaluation strategies, and effective use of evaluation data. The article concludes with a discussion of program limitations.

Individual Personality and Emotional Readiness Characteristics Associated with Marriage Preparation Outcomes of Perceived Helpfulness and Change

ABSTRACT Little is known about the characteristics of individual participants for whom particular marriage preparation interventions are most helpful and change producing. Data collected from 1,655 intervention participants via the online RELATionship Evaluation Questionnaire (RELATE) were used to analyze the association of eight individual personality characteristics with perceived helpfulness and positive change resulting from participation in four marriage preparation interventions (classes, community workshops, premarital counseling, self-directed) and whether this association would also be related to gender, age, and education of the participants. General linear modeling (GLM) analysis revealed different patterns of prediction for each type of intervention. Kindness was identified most often, predicting perceived change in individual, couple, and context areas among community workshop participants, perceived couple-level change, and helpfulness among self-directed participants, and perceived individual-level change among class participants. No factors significantly predicted perceived helpfulness and change among premarital counseling participants. Implications for premarital interventions are discussed.