Citation

Jennings SW, Torres-Hostos LR, Rose RA, Leal RM. Fam. Process 2022; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Family Process Institute, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/famp.12758

PMID

35149988

Abstract

Low-income minorities face many complex barriers to building stable and healthy relationships. AVANCE Houston, a non-profit community-based organization in Houston, Texas, developed the Strong Families, Strong Communities (SFSC) program to address such barriers by providing interactive healthy marriage and relationship skills workshops to low-income English- and Spanish-speaking Hispanic and English-speaking African American individuals. Using a randomized control trial (RCT) design with random assignment to the 7-week treatment group (n = 649) or a 12-month wait-list control group (n = 600), we examined the impact of the program on four dimensions of relationship functioning: relationship satisfaction, connectedness, and quality; and conflict resolution, at post-test and then 6 and 12 months later. Using a repeated measure multilevel model with a difference-in-difference impact estimate, we found that all four dimensions of relationship functioning improved with small effect sizes that were larger than those found in previous relationship education programs for low-income individuals (Cohen's d's of 0.18 for relationship satisfaction, 0.24 for connectedness, 0.19 for quality, and 0.20 for conflict resolution).

FINDINGS from this study provide evidence of program effectiveness on dimensions of relationship functioning for low-income minorities, comparable to or better than those seen in other healthy marriage program RCTs. The findings of this impact evaluation are promising regarding the impact of programs like SFSC on dimensions of relationship functioning in low-income Hispanic and African American participants.

Language: en

Keywords

family functioning; healthy marriage and responsible fatherhood programs; impact evaluation; low-income minorities; relationship functioning; 低收入少数族裔; 健康婚姻和负责任的为父之道; 功能关系; 家庭功能; 影响评估