Getting married and staying married require a complicated calculus of factors that must come together to produce healthy and satisfying relationships. While couple interactional processes tend to be the most predictive of whether or not they will stay together and find happiness, background and contextual factors and individual traits also factor heavily into the equation. Finding two socks that match (and don’t wear out) is much more likely to occur when the relationship is based upon a deep and enduring friendship. Asking the question, “Will this choice enhance or diminish my marital friendship?” and then choosing to make the choices that will enhance the marital friendship more often than not are healthy strategies for success. This 5-page fact sheet was written by Victor W. Harris, Gilon Marts, and Muthusami Kumaran, and published by the UF Department of Family Youth and Community Sciences, March 2013.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fy1364
Tag: Marriage and Intimate Relationships
What Is a Healthy Dating or Marriage Relationship? (FCS2323/FY1361)
Defining what a healthy romantic relationship is can be challenging. Thankfully, modern research has given us a good idea of what healthy dating and marriage relationships look like. Use this fact sheet to determine what a healthy relationship looks like to you. Then take the survey to get an idea of the strengths already present in your relationship and those things you may want to work on. This 3-page fact sheet was written by Victor W. Harris, and published by the UF Department of Family Youth and Community Sciences, March 2013.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fy1361
Why Fragile Families Don’t Marry (FAR3003/FM013)
“He can’t support us. Why should I marry him?” This mom is not alone in her resistance to matrimony. In fact, increasing evidence has many of the opponents of the Healthy Marriage Initiative on the offensive. While the reauthorization of the welfare reform bill will allocate substantial funds to states for the development of programs for improving relations between unmarried parents, those who challenge the bill argue that marriage is not the answer… This 2-page Family Album Radio transcript was written by Donna Davis, and published by the UF Department of Family Youth and Community Sciences, February 2013.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fm013
Old Maid No More (FAR3038/FM416)
“Twenty years ago, women were being warned that, according to demographic research, if they didn’t marry by the time they were in their early twenties, they would likely live out their lives unwed. As a child, I was even told that “those” women became “old maids,” and I feared a similar fate. Fast-forward to 2006, and the news is quite different.” This 2-page Family Album Radio transcript was written by Donna Davis, and published by the UF Department of Family Youth and Community Sciences, July 2012.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fm416
Cohabitation among Older Adults (FAR3040/FM436)
“Most of the time when we think about cohabiting couples, we imagine younger adults who are living together before they get married, or instead of marrying. But, according to the 2000 census, there are more than a million individuals over the age of 50 who are cohabiting, and this number is increasing as baby boomers reach their 50s and 60s.” This 2-page Family Album Radio transcript was written by Suzanna Smith, and published by the UF Department of Family Youth and Community Sciences, July 2012.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fm436
How Couples Cope with Infertility (FAR3039/FM433)
“I’ve had many friends who, soon after they were married, were constantly facing questions from friends and relatives about when they were going to start having children. Many people assume this would be the next logical step. However, many couples choose not to have children, and more than four million married men and women in the U.S. have difficulty conceiving or carrying a child to birth.” This 2-page Family Album Radio transcript was written by Donna Davis, and published by the UF Department of Family Youth and Community Sciences, July 2012.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fm433
Breaking out of Unhealthy Marital Interactions (FAR3041/FM474)
“For couples today, there's an abundance of information on how to sustain healthy, happy marital relationships. What many couples fail to realize is that these positive practices won't work without addressing negative patterns and destructive behaviors in their relationship.” This 2-page radio transcript was written by Eboni Baugh and Donna Davis, and published by the UF Department of Family Youth and Community Sciences, March 2012.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fm474