President Bush's Healthy Marriage Initiative and child abuse prevention : a research review.

As the Bush Administration's "compassionate conservatism" agenda evolves simultaneous to debate on key legislation impacting families, there has been widespread debate and promotion of the Healthy Marriage Initiative. Marriage promotion initiatives and commissions on marriage are forming across the country as legislation such as the Promoting Safe and Stable Families Act, Child Support Enforcement Act, the Refugee Resettlement Program and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) reauthorization emerge with potential healthy marriage provisions and funding. There is no question this shift toward healthy marriage promotion holds implications for the family support field, including child abuse prevention programs. Due to the recent increase in research and dialogue on family formation and healthy marriage, this policy brief presents a range of research, sheds light on the complexities of the issues and clarifies the relevance to child abuse prevention programs. (Author abstract)