Highlights from the Marriage Strengthening Research and Dissemination Center

Relationship education programs geared towards adolescents and young adults attempt to shape goals and behaviors in current and future relationships. To maximize the effectiveness of these programs, youth-focused relationship education programs need to be implemented in a way that considers the age and developmental stage of participants and draws on the strengths that youth bring to programming. Further, as marriage and family formation shifts toward older ages, more research is needed on how youth are thinking about and engaging in relationships.

This webinar will highlight work conducted by the Marriage Strengthening Research and Dissemination Center that explores youth relationship attitudes, expectations, and experiences and how relationship education programs can tailor programming for youth, based on a positive youth development framework. A specific application of integrating positive youth development with youth relationship education programming will be discussed with a presentation from Desiree W. Murray, developer of the Be Calm Connections program. Priorities for future research and practice will also be discussed.

Objectives:

Participants will be able to:

1. Describe adolescent and young adult relationship attitudes, expectations, and experiences.
2. Learn about the role of positive youth development in the design and implementation of youth relationship education programs.
3. Identify priorities for future research and practice related to youth relationship education.

Presenters: Mindy E. Scott, Ph.D. and Desiree W. Murray, Ph.D., Marriage Strengthening Research and Dissemination Center

 Who should attend: Program managers, counselors, educators, practitioners, and anyone interested in working with youth.

Resources:

• June 2021 Webinar Slides
• Positive Youth Development 101
• Relationship Quality Poster
• Integrating Positive Youth Development into PREP