Announcement of Award of Fiscal Year 2007
National Center for Marriage Research
On September 25, 2007 the Department announced a $900,000 cooperative agreement to establish the first-ever National Center for Marriage Research to improve our understanding of how marriage and family structure affect the health and well-being of individuals, families, children, and communities, and to inform policy development and programmatic responses. In addition to supporting interdisciplinary research on marriage and family structure, the National Center for Marriage will develop research capacity and widely disseminate findings. The awardee for the national center is Bowling Green State University.
Background
ASPE announced the availability of funds for the National Center for Marriage Research (NCMR) on July 3, 2007. The national center will provide high-quality, policy-relevant research on marriage. ASPE funding of the NCMR will move the field forward in a strongly research-driven manner and fill important gaps in our understanding of marriage and family structure. In addition to conducting and disseminating research, building research capacity and networks — supporting faculty research and faculty training; enhancing campus-wide awareness of issues related to marriage and family structure; and supporting and mentoring students in careers related to marriage and family research and policy — is a central purpose of the NCMR.
Summary of Fiscal Year 2007
National Center for Marriage Research
Cooperative Agreement
National Center for Marriage Research
Bowling Green State University: National Center for Marriage Research
Summary of Proposal
The inaugural National Center for Marriage Research at Bowling Green State University will generate innovative, interdisciplinary, multimethod research on the influence of marriage and family structure on the well-being of children, adults, families, and communities. The NCMR will integrate sociological, psychological, developmental, economic, and demographic perspectives to examine marriage across the generations, and provide national leadership on this agenda in collaboration with a national advisory committee and ASPE.
Research activities will be coordinated through seminars, conferences, extramural and intramural grants programs, working papers series, visiting scholars and postdocs, and research and policy partnerships. Additionally, the NCMR will build a data and measurement infrastructure to assist the broader community of marriage scholars, policy makers, and educators by producing data descriptions, data workshops, a marriage and divorce levels database, a marriage policy database, marriage and family structure measurement guidelines, data outreach, and pilot survey data.
The NCMR will disseminate research through workshops, conferences, and seminars; research briefs, conference proceedings, and news releases highlighting key questions and major research findings; and targeted electronic format mailings to policymakers, academic institutions, and practitioners. The NCMR will offer training and mentorship for junior faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate assistants.
The NCMR will pursue an ambitious vision to build a new capacity for marriage and family research by providing intellectual leadership that will shape the direction for new research, policy, and training in marriage and family structure.
Drs. Wendy Manning and Susan Brown will co-direct the NCMR at the Department of Sociology at Bowling Green State University.