Impacts of healthy marriage and relationship education with integrated economic stability services

Abstract

Objective: This study evaluated the effectiveness of Empowering Families, a healthy marriage and relationship education (HMRE) program for low-income couples with children supplemented with intensive employment and financial education services. Background: Previous research found that programs offering both HMRE and economic stability services improved couples' relationship quality but not their economic outcomes. Those programs did not fully integrate economic stability and relationship education content, and take-up rates for employment services were low. Method: Eight hundred seventy-nine eligible couples were randomly assigned to either (a) a program group that was offered Empowering Families or (b) a control group that was not offering this program. Key outcomes were measured 1 year after study enrollment through surveys of both members of the couple. Results: Empowering Families improved all examined aspects of couples' relationship quality (the effect size of impacts ranges from 0.20 to 0.30); it did not affect relationship status. Empowering Families did not improve employment outcomes, but it did reduce economic hardship (the effect size of the impact is −0.13). Conclusion: Empowering Families achieved its central goal of strengthening couples' relationship quality. The fact that Empowering Families reduced economic hardship points to the potential value of offering financial literacy services in conjunction with relationship education. Implications: HMRE programs that offer intensive and integrated economic stability content can improve the outcomes of low-income couples with children.