2018-2023
The Marriage Strengthening Research and Dissemination Center (MAST Center) supports research and evaluation to help inform marriage and relationship education programming through:
Research on romantic relationships in the U.S. and on the design, implementation, and effectiveness of the programs designed to support relationships, to help identify critical research gaps and help programs more effectively serve the individuals and families they work with.
Research-to-practice resources—including tools, trainings, an interactive forum, and an evaluation resource library—to support and help build connections among researchers, evaluators, and practitioners in fields related to marriage and relationship education.
Mentoring and support for emerging scholars—students and early career professionals—to expand and strengthen the field of researchers studying relationships and the programs designed to support relationships.
Translating and disseminating marriage and relationship education research and evaluation resources to make them accessible to key audiences and stakeholders, including researchers and emerging scholars, evaluators, practitioners, and policy professionals.
The MAST Center is made up of a team of national experts in marriage and relationship research and evaluation, led by Child Trends in partnership with Public Strategies and the National Center for Family and Marriage Research at Bowling Green State University. The Center was established in 2018 by a five-year cooperative agreement from OPRE.
Please visit the MAST website for more information and updates on work conducted by MAST.
Related Publications:
- Trends in Relationship Formation and Stability in the United States: Dating, Cohabitation, Marriage, and Divorce
- Implementing Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education Programs with Couples
- An Introduction to Program Design and Implementation Characteristics of Federally Funded Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education Grantees
- Outcomes and Outcome Domains Examined in HMRE Evaluation Studies
- An Overview of Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education Curricula
- History and Implementation of the Federally Funded Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education (HMRE) Grants
Point(s) of contact: Kathleen McCoy, Aleta Meyer
You may also contact the evaluation contractor, Child Trends:
Mindy Scott: mscott@childtrends.org
Elizabeth Wildsmith: ewildsmith@childtrends.org