Volume 05 | May 2020
The National Center for Family & Marriage Research (NCFMR) was established in 2007 to help improve our understanding of how family structure is linked to the health and well-being of children, adults, families, and communities and to inform policy development and programmatic responses.
What's News at the NCFMR
Men's and Women's Age Distribution at First Marriage
Men and women's ages at first marriage have reached historic high points in recent years, but less is known about whether the age distributions of newlyweds have also shifted. As part of a series on the age distributions of family formation experiences, our new family profile uses vital statistics data and the American Community Survey to explore how variation in men and women's ages at first marriage has shifted between 1960 and 2018. "Distributions of the Ages at First Marriage, 1960 - 2018" (FP-20-09) is the first profile in a three-part series.
Women's Distributions of Age at First Marriage
Source: NCFMR analyses of Vital Statistics Marriage Certificates, 1960 & 1990; 1-year American Community Survey, 2018
Note: Diversity index (DI) calculated as 1 minus the sum of the squared proportions.
(where is the proportion of the population who experienced a first marriage in age category)
MAST Research Center Releases Inaugural Brief
The Marriage Strengthening Research and Dissemination Center (MAST) recently released their first research brief on trends in heterosexual dating, cohabitation, marriage, and divorce. The authors of the brief explore how changes in romantic relationships present new challenges and opportunities for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners.

MAST supports research and evaluation to inform healthy marriage and relationship education programming. The MAST Center is made up of a team of national experts in marriage and relationship research and practice, led by Child Trends in partnership with Public Strategies and the National Center for Family & Marriage Research at Bowling Green State University.
Colleagues Awarded National Science Foundation (NSF) Funding
Drs. Peggy Giordano, Monica Longmore, and Wendy Manning recently received funding from the NSF for their research titled, “The Coronavirus Pandemic: Predictors and Consequences of Compliance with Social Distancing Recommendations Designed to Mitigate COVID-19 Spread.”
The study goals are to identify factors associated with variability in compliance with the recent social distancing guidelines implemented in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic, and consequences of social distancing for emotional (e.g., depression) and behavioral (e.g., substance use) health and the functioning of intimate relationships. The study builds on an ongoing longitudinal investigation of the lives of a large, diverse sample of young adults interviewed first as adolescents, and includes in-depth interviews as well as survey data.
Family Profiles

Original reports summarizing and analyzing nationally representative data with the goal to provide the latest analysis of U.S. families. These profiles examine topics related to the NCFMR's core research themes.
Distributions of the Ages at First Marriage, 1960 - 2018
Distributions of the Ages at Remarriage, 1960 - 2018
Distributions of the Ages at First Birth, 1960 - 2018
NCFMR In the News

NCFMR research topics are wide-ranging and diverse. A few of our research projects that have garnered national media attention this past month are listed below.
With Couples Rethinking Children, We Might See the Opposite of a COVID-19 Baby Boom
Births in the United States have dropped to a 34-year low
Is a Coronavirus Baby Boom on the Way? Probably Not
Sociology professors researching impact of social tools during COVID-19
Celebrating moms in a time like no other
Just Released
Data

Panel Study of Income Dynamics
Multimedia

National Council on Family Relations

Calendar of Events

June

Call for Applications -- Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) Summer Program in Quantitative Methods of Social Research
Exploring and Analyzing Monitoring the Future Data: A Primer
Applications Due: June 5
Workshop Dates: July 20 - 22

Learn and Do Summer Workshop -- Brigham Young University Family Studies Center*
Longitudinal SEM: Applications with Individual and Family Level Data
Conference Dates: June 17 - 19
*Due to COVID-19, please note the workshops will now be administered through Zoom

Call for Applications -- Visiting Scholars Program, The Russell Sage Foundation (RSF)
Applications Due: June 25

Call for Manuscripts -- Family Relations
COVID-19 and Implications for Families
Date Due: Unspecified


July

Call for Papers -- The Journal of Comparative Family Studies (JCFS)
Understanding Contemporary Family Issues in South Korea
Date Due: July 1


August

Call for Papers -- American Psychologist
COVID-19 Pandemic
Date Due: August 31


October

28th Annual Symposium on Family Issues -- Penn State
Conference Dates: October 26 - 27


December

Call for Manuscripts -- Family Science Review (FSR)
Pedagogy in the Wake of a Pandemic
Date Due: December 1
NCFMR Team

Co-directors
Dr. Susan L. Brown
Dr. Wendy D. Manning

Social Science Data Analysts
Dr. Krista K. Payne
Hsueh-Sheng Wu

Technical Writer
Lesley Wadsworth

Graduate Research Assistants
Lisa Carlson
Paul Hemez
Leslie Reynolds
Eric Sevareid