Families

Families play a central role in a person’s life and can serve as an important source of support and security to children and promote their health and well-being. The quality of the relationship between family members is particularly important for achieving these positive outcomes.

It is critical to study how families are formed and the nature and quality of parents’ relationships with partners and their children. Parenting, co-parenting, and romantic relationship dynamics are important aspects of these relationships, and both mothers and fathers play unique roles in the lives of their children.

Child Trends investigates family relationships that influence a child’s development, from birth through their transition to adulthood. We analyze trends in family formation and document patterns and outcomes, aiming to understand how families are formed. We partner with federal, state, and community-based organizations to bridge the divide between family-focused research and practice.

Our briefs, blogs, presentations, trainings, and peer-reviewed publications reach practitioners, researchers, and policymakers. These include:

Publications in the 2022 Sourcebook of Family Theories and Methodologies, Violence Against Women, and various agency and advocacy websites for program and policy use
Presentations at national research and practice conferences, including the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation’s Research and Evaluation Conference on Self-Sufficiency; the National Association for Relationship and Marriage Education; and the National Council on Family Relations
Convenings of various interested parties, including national experts and practitioners in family-related fields and a recent statewide gathering with researchers, policymakers, practitioners, advocates, funders, and community members from across Texas who co-created a vision and policies to achieve family safety and well-being