Teaching Marriage Education to Undergrads/ FSU Wins Funding - 10/23/06

Mon Oct 23 16:20:41 EDT 2006

- FSU FAMILY INSTITUTE WINS FEDERAL GRANT TO HELP STUDENTS BUILD BETTER
RELATIONSHIPS  
- TEACHING MARRIAGE EDUCATION TO UNDERGRADS

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- FSU FAMILY INSTITUTE WINS FEDERAL GRANT TO HELP STUDENTS BUILD BETTER
RELATIONSHIPS  
by Libby Fairhurst 
Oct 23, 2007 

Armed with a new grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
worth $2.6 million over five years, the Florida State University Family
Institute will help undergraduates strengthen and sustain safe, healthy
romantic relationships and reject negative, unhealthy ones now and in the
future through a unique skills-based relationship education program.

"This grant has the potential to change a significant feature of the student
environment and place our university at the vanguard in optimizing the
quality of life and safety in its undergraduate community," said FSU Family
Institute Director and Eminent Scholar Frank Fincham, who proposed and will
oversee the new initiative.

"Ultimately, in addition to making our own university better, we will be
evaluating our program's impact on students' individual and relational
well-being in order to develop an empirically informed and empirically
tested program for college students that can be disseminated across the
state and nation," he said.

Part of FSU's College of Human Sciences‹and focused on interdisciplinary
research that informs public policy‹the Family Institute is one of the 13
public and faith-based organizations across the state awarded a 2006 Healthy
Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood grant, part of nearly $33 million in
support from Health and Human Services to strengthen Florida families over
the next five years.

"The college years bring the need to negotiate new life roles and
relationships, so they are particularly important ones in which to provide
skill-based education that may positively influence both future
relationships and future offspring," Fincham said.

"We know that young people involved in committed and supportive intimate
relationships experience better psychological and physical well-being and
notably, engage in fewer high-risk behaviors," he said. An internationally
recognized psychologist whose research has focused on relationship
development and conflict in marriage and partnerships, Fincham characterizes
"intimate" relationships in part as those in which partners have frequent,
strong impacts on one another and exhibit a high level of interdependence.

Clearly, some relationships need help. Fincham cites troubling national
statistics:
About a third of sexually active college students report having multiple sex
partners during the preceding 11 weeks and of those students, 75 percent
report erratic or no condom use and failure to disclose to their current sex
partner their risky sexual behavior. Even among students who say that they
are "in an exclusive relationship," nearly 40 percent report sexual
relations with someone other than their partner.

Physical aggression in college romantic relationships is prevalent as well,
with approximately a third reporting acts such as slapping and shoving,
initiated by both men and women. Though not uncommon among college-age
youth, research shows that co-habitation, absent a clear commitment
(engagement), does not improve outcomes of marriages that may eventually
result‹and about 30 percent of dating couples in college find themselves
married within five years.

"In fact," Fincham said, "a lot of young people in relationships don't
really make decisions, they simply go along for the ride, or as one of my
colleagues puts it, 'sliding instead of deciding' into situations that may
not be in their best interest."

According to Kay Pasley, FSU family and child sciences department chair,
Fincham's skill-based relationship education program will become a component
of an existing university wide course called "Family Relations: A Lifespan
Developmental Approach," which is based on a nationally recognized
relationship development course for single adults.

She and Fincham expect that a quarter of FSU students will participate
(about 11,000 over five years), gaining knowledge and understanding through
the lecture component, then applying that knowledge and developing vital
practical skills in small breakout sessions.

"We intend to build a national model of relationship and marriage education
for young adults," Fincham said. "As with all Family Institute research, we
mean to inform family policymakers across the nation and provide an
empirical foundation for their outreach efforts."

The FSU Family Institute is dedicated to promoting the well-being of
children and families through research. It brings together a variety of
disciplines, experts and students with government and community resources to
provide a centralized source of research expertise, information and critical
thinking related to families. To learn more, visit the FSU Family Institute
Web site at: http://www.chs.fsu.edu/family_institute/.

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- TEACHING MARRIAGE EDUCATION TO UNDERGRADS

As many of you know, this important topic, "Teaching Marriage Education to
Undergrads" is one of "classics" at the annual Smart Marriages conference -
a workshop we have featured every year since the beginning. I always tell
reporters and policy makers that if we were forced to choose just one place
to spend Marriage Education dollars, we'd put it into our high schools and
colleges and teach the "next marrying generations" that marriage is a
skill-based proposition and that they can become Masters of Marriages.  Over
the years this panel has featured an impressive list of professors that have
successfully pioneered Marriage Education courses at their own colleges and
who report there is always a wait list to take the classes.  I encourage any
of you that are trying to rebuild the marriage culture to focus energy on
students.  There are great curricula and now FSU is wading in and should
come up with some helpful new information.

Those that have presented on Teaching Marriage to Undergrads" includes:
Les Parrott, PhD, Seattle Pacific University
Arthur Nielsen, MD, Northwestern
Linda Malone-Colon, PhD, Hampton University
Dennis Lowe & Emily Scott-Lowe, PhDs, Pepperdine University
Tom Holman, PhD and Brent Barlow, PhD, Brigham Young University
Beckie Adams, PhD, Ball State University
Plus: Sherrod Miller, PhD, David Olson, PhD, Marline Pearson, MA, Linda
Young, PhD, John Wu, EdD,

I encourage you to listen to at least one of the recordings and recommend
this as a good place to start: 800-241-7785 for $15.

> Session # 754-513
> Teaching Marriage Classes to Undergrads
> Les Parrott, PhD, Arthur Nielsen, MD, Sherod Miller, PhD, Linda Malone-Colon,
> PhD, chair
> Explore ideas about how to make marriage courses more interesting and
> meaningful in the lives - and future marriages - of students. Bring curricula
> and materials for exchange.

I also strongly encourage any of you working in your communities to check
out the wonderful recordings on teaching in the high schools:
http://www.smartmarriages.com/school.track.html

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