Family Well-Being

This research examines the effects of parental marital quality and the quality of the parent-child relationship on the educational progress of adolescents. Previous research indicates that family structure and economic capacity have significant effects on educational achievement and high school graduation rates.

This report focuses on family processes and adolescent religious attendance and personal religiosity among youth who were raised primarily in married-parent families. The study used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997 cohort (NLSY97). Sample includes only youth living in married-parent families at the time of the first wave of data collection.

This report provides a conceptual framework on the effects of asset holding and reviews the empirical literature based on this framework. The report distills the main findings on how assets influence economic, social, psychological, and child well-being and provides empirical support for the benefits of asset building. [39 PDF pages]

The link between growing up outside of an intact family, and the likelihood of engaging in risky sexual behaviors as an adolescent has been explored extensively.

  ASPE RESEARCH BRIEF American Community Survey: New Survey Questions Enable Measurement of Marital Transitions October 2008 This Research Brief is available on the Internet at:http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/09/MarriageDivorceStats/ACSBrief/rb.shtml

The number of individuals involved in the criminal justice system is at a historic high. There are almost 2.3 million individuals in U.S. jails and prisons and more than 798,000 people on parole.

When Congress reformed the welfare system in 1996, major goals of the legislation were to increase employment and income of needy families and to decrease child poverty. Another major goal was to improve child outcomes through increased parental employment and earnings along with other provisions of welfare reform.