The National Marriage Project

The National Marriage Project is a nonpartisan, nonsectarian, and interdisciplinary initiative located at the University of Virginia. The Project’s mission is to provide research and analysis on the health of marriage in America, to analyze the social and cultural forces shaping contemporary marriage, and to identify strategies to increase marital quality and stability.

The National Marriage Project was founded in 1997 by Rutgers University Sociology Professor David Popenoe. From 1997 to the summer of 2009, it was housed at Rutgers University and was directed by David Popenoe and Barbara Dafoe Whitehead. In the summer of 2009, the National Marriage Project moved to the University of Virginia, where it is now directed by W. Bradford Wilcox, associate professor of sociology at the University of Virginia.

The National Marriage Project has five goals:

1. Publish The State of Our Unions, which monitors the current health of marriage and family life in America;
2. Investigate and report on the state of marriage among young adults;
3. Provide accurate information and analysis regarding marriage to journalists, policy makers, religious leaders, and the general public;
4. Conduct research on the ways in which children, race, class, immigration, ethnicity, religion, and poverty shape the quality and stability of contemporary marriage; and
5. Bring marriage and family experts together to develop strategies for strengthening marriage.

The State of Our Unions Report

The NMP’s annual report, The State of Our Unions, provides statistics and analysis on marriage, divorce, cohabitation, parenthood, and other relevant family trends in America. The annual report also features new research on important and timely topics related to marriage, such as:

• The State of Our Unions 2009: Money & Marriage. This report examines new research on how the recession, savings and debt, and recent increases in unemployment are affecting contemporary marriages.
• The State of Our Unions 2010: When Marriage Disappears. With new research, this report examines some of the causes and consequences of the retreat from marriage among Middle Americans.
• In 2011, the State of Our Unions, entitled Baby Makes Three, will explore the cultural and social causes of marital success among American parents.

External links

• Homepage of The National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia