The Effects of Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education Programs for Youth

HMRE programs for youth aim to improve young people’s understanding of romantic relationships and prepare them to have healthy romantic relationships in adolescence and adulthood. In this brief, we summarize the impact literature on these programs. First, we describe HMRE programs for youth, including the types of services they offer, how they are structured, and the populations they serve. Second, we highlight what is known about the effectiveness of these programs from studies of HMRE programs for youth that measured program effects relative to a comparison group. Third, we discuss implications for future research on HMRE programs for youth.

Our review of the impact literature on HMRE programs for youth yielded five key findings:

1. Several studies found favorable impacts immediately after the program on youths’ relationship attitudes and beliefs and their willingness to use relationship services in the future. Of the 15 studies we reviewed, seven found favorable impacts at program exit on relationship attitudes and beliefs, and two found favorable impacts at program exit on willingness to participate in future relationship services.
2. The evidence of impacts on youths’ relationship skills and conflict management behaviors is mixed, with some studies finding favorable impacts and others finding no impacts. Five of the studies we reviewed examined outcomes related to self-reported relationship skills. Three of these studies found favorable impacts and two did not. Seven of the studies we reviewed measured conflict management behaviors in a particular romantic relationship or friendship. Three of these studies found favorable impacts at program exit and one found a favorable impact four years after the program.
3. Few studies examined impacts on the quality of youths’ relationships with a current or former romantic partner. Four of the 15 studies we reviewed examined the quality of youths’ current or former relationship. Only one of these studies found a favorable impact.
4. There is limited evidence that programs affected attitudes and behaviors in additional, related outcome domains. Some studies examined outcomes related to topics that are not covered in all HMRE programs but might still be important for youths’ later relationship experiences. For example, seven studies examined outcomes related to sexual risk behaviors, knowledge, and attitudes, with two finding favorable impacts. Six studies explored outcomes related to youths’ personal well-being (e.g., self-esteem, getting into trouble at home or school, depressive symptoms), with none finding impacts. Three studies examined the quality of relationships with parents or friends, with one finding a favorable impact.
5. Studies with higher response rates found limited evidence of long-term program impacts. Six of the studies we reviewed examined impacts a year or more after the start of the program. Although some of these studies found favorable impacts on outcomes such as youths’ relationship attitudes, beliefs, and skills, these favorable impacts were more common among studies that had response rates of less than 25 percent. The low response rates raise the possibility that the kinds of youth who responded to the follow-up survey might not be the same in the treatment and comparison groups, and therefore the results might not be an accurate estimate of program impacts. Studies that had higher response rates of 75 to 85 percent generally found no impacts on youths’ outcomes a year or more after the program.

We identified and reviewed 15 studies of relationship education programs for youth that measured program effects relative to a comparison group generated either through randomization or matching using a quasi-experimental design. To summarize the evidence from these 15 studies, we developed an evidence and gaps map. The map shows impacts of the programs included in our review on eight outcome domains. It also shows how these impacts varied across follow-up timepoints (i.e., program exit, between program exit and one year, and one year or more).

Alamillo, J., L. Ritchie, and R. Wood. (2021). The Effects of Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education Programs for Youth. OPRE Report 2021-225. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.