Building Strong Families Survey Component

Our large-scale Building Strong Families project represents an important opportunity to learn whether well-designed and sensitive interventions can help couples fulfill their aspirations for a healthy, stable, and committed marriage. We are helping agencies in six sites develop programs and determine their effectiveness with couples who choose to participate. Our survey and research divisions are working closely together on the longitudinal data collection, which includes in-depth interviews with couples, analysis of administrative data, and in-person observation and assessment of children's well-being.

For the impact analysis, we will randomly assign 2,000 couples in each of the six sites, for a total of 12,000 couples to the program or a control group. After baseline data collection, we will conduct follow-up surveys with both groups 18 and 36 months after their enrollment in the evaluation, and at 60 months, if early impact analyses suggest it would be worthwhile. Assessments of the cognitive and social development of children will be part of the evaluation followup. Administrative data from state agencies will document sample members' earnings and use of assistance benefits. The evaluation team will estimate program impacts on mother-father relationships, family structure, fathers' involvement in childrearing, parent-child relationships and the home environment, family functioning, child well-being and development, and parental well-being.

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