Strengthening Relationship Education and Marriage Services (STREAMS), 5 U.S. states, 2016-2021 (ICPSR 38662)

Version Date: Feb 28, 2023

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Principal Investigator(s):
Brian Goesling, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR38662.v1

Version V1

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Summary

The federal government has made a long-standing commitment to supporting healthy relationships and stable families. In the mid-1990s, Congress created the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant, which provided states with the funding and flexibility to support activities that promoted healthy marriages. Beginning in the mid-2000s, the federal government provided additional funding specifically to support healthy marriage and relationship education (HMRE). The Office of Family Assistance (OFA) in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services oversees these funds and distributes them through a set of competitive multiyear grants to organizations nationwide.

The Strengthening Relationship Education and Marriage Services (STREAMS) evaluation was a five-site, random assignment evaluation of HMRE programs, and was overseen by ACF's Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) with funding from OFA. The five sites were selected from among a cohort of 46 organizations awarded multiyear grants from OFA in September 2015. The sites were selected for their potential to fill gaps in the evidence base on the effectiveness of HMRE programming and to identify strategies for improving the delivery and effectiveness of these programs. The grantees do not necessarily represent the overall grant program. Further, the findings from STREAMS were not intended to generalize to all funded grantees.

The STREAMS evaluation examined a range of populations that are served by HMRE programming. One site provided relationship skills education to youth in high school; two sites provided relationship skills education to adults as individuals; and two sites provided relationship skills education to adults as couples. The five sites also addressed other evaluation priorities for STREAMS, including examining programs that integrated relationship skills and economic stability services and assessing implementation factors such as program dosage and strategies to boost program attendance. For each site, the STREAMS evaluation included both a random assignment impact study and an in-depth process study.

The five sites in the STREAMS evaluation are described below.

  1. More Than Conquerors Inc. (MTCI). Trained facilitators from MTCI, a nonprofit social service agency near Atlanta, Georgia, delivered two different versions of the Relationship Smarts PLUS (RQ+) Version 3.0 curriculum (Dibble Institute 2021) for high school students in two Atlanta-area high schools. For STREAMS, the impact study team evaluated the full 12-session curriculum and a shortened 8-session version against a control group of students who were not offered any HMRE programming (Alamillo and Doran 2022; Alamillo and Goesling 2021).
  2. Family and Workforce Centers of America (FWCA). FWCA delivered Career STREAMS, an integrated relationship education and pre-employment training program for adult job seekers with low incomes. Career STREAMS incorporated an HMRE curriculum called Within My Reach (Pearson et al. 2015) into an existing employment program offered through an employment center in St. Louis, Missouri. For STREAMS, the impact study team compared a group that was offered participation in the Career STREAMS program to a control group that was offered participation in FWCA's traditional employment training program (Goesling et al. 2022).
  3. University of Denver (Denver). In collaboration with the Denver Health hospital system, researchers from the University of Denver delivered MotherWise, a program for low-income adult women who either were expecting or just had a baby. MotherWise was based on the Within My Reach curriculum. For STREAMS, the impact study team compared a group that was offered the MotherWise program to a control group that was not offered the program (Patnaik and Wood 2021; Patnaik, Gonzalez, and Wood 2022).
  4. The Parenting Center (TPC). TPC in Fort Worth, Texas, delivered Empowering Families, a program for romantically involved, adult couples with low incomes who are raising children. The program featured workshop-based relationship education along with case management, employment services, and financial coaching. For STREAMS, the impact study team compared a group of couples that was offered participation in Empowering Families to a control group that was not offered the program (Wu et al. 2021).
  5. University of Florida (Florida). The University of Florida's Cooperative Extension Service offered ELEVATE, a workshop-based relationship education program for adult couples. Informed by behavioral theory, the STREAMS impact study team tested a text messaging intervention to improve program attendance and completion rates. Specifically, the study compared the program attendance rates of couples who received different types of text message reminders to a control group that received no reminders (Patnaik et al. 2022).

The STREAMS restricted-use data collection includes 12 data files. Some of the files include data for a single site, while others combine data for more than one site. A user guide provides documentation for each file.

Citation

Goesling, Brian. Strengthening Relationship Education and Marriage Services (STREAMS), 5 U.S. states, 2016-2021. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2023-02-28. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR38662.v1

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Funding

United States Department of Health and Human Services. Administration for Children and Families. Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (HHSP233201500095G)

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Smallest Geographic Unit

City

Restrictions

This data collection may not be used for any purpose other than statistical reporting and analysis. Use of these data to learn the identity of any person or establishment is prohibited. To protect respondent privacy, some of the data files in this collection are restricted from general dissemination. To obtain these restricted files researchers must agree to the terms and conditions of a Restricted Data Use Agreement.

Distributor(s)

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
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Time Period(s)

2016-01-01 -- 2021-12-31

Date of Collection

2016-01-01 -- 2021-12-31
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Study Purpose

The Strengthening Relationship Education and Marriage Services (STREAMS) evaluation was a five-site, random assignment evaluation of healthy marriage and relationship education (HMRE) programs, and was overseen by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF)'s Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) with funding from the Office of Family Assistance (OFA). The five sites were selected from among a cohort of 46 organizations awarded multiyear grants from OFA in September 2015. The sites were selected for their potential to fill gaps in the evidence base on the effectiveness of HMRE programming and to identify strategies for improving the delivery and effectiveness of these programs. The grantees do not necessarily represent the overall grant program. Further, the findings from STREAMS were not intended to generalize to all funded grantees.

Sample

More Than Conquerors Inc. (MTCI): 1,862 students from 61 health classes in two participating high schools during the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 school years.

Family and Workforce Centers of America (FWCA): 908 participants between 2016 and 2018 in tandem with FWCA's established practices for recruiting and enrolling participants into its traditional employment training program.

Denver: 949 women ages 18 and older who were pregnant or had delivered a baby in the previous 3 months between 2016 and 2018.

The Parenting Center (TPC): 874 couples between 2016 and 2018 in which both members of the couple met the following criteria: (1) age 18 or older, (2) report they were in a committed relationship with their partner, (3) be interested in participating in a program that offered both relationship skills and economic stability services, and (4) report that they were not currently experiencing domestic violence. At least one member of the couple also needed to have a biological or adopted child who was younger than 18 and lived with that member at least half of the time.

Florida: For the first test, 907 couples who attended the first ELEVATE workshop session between 2017 and 2018. For the second test, 835 couples that registered for the ELEVATE workshop between 2019 and 2020.

Time Method

Longitudinal

Universe

More Than Conquerors Inc. (MTCI): Students from high school health classes in two Atlanta-area high schools.

Family and Workforce Centers of America (FWCA): Individuals in the St. Louis area seeking employment services.

Denver: Women in Denver ages 18 and older who were pregnant or had delivered a baby in the previous 3 months.

The Parenting Center (TPC): Couples in Fort Worth who met the sample criteria described above, including that at least one member of the couple had a child younger than 18 who lived with them at least half the time.

Florida: Couples in Florida who attended the first ELEVATE workshop session (Test 1) or registered for the ELEVATE workshop (Test 2).

Unit(s) of Observation

Couples, Individuals

Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection

Response Rates

  • More Than Conquerors Inc. (MTCI): Youth baseline survey: 99 percent
  • MTCI: Youth one-year follow-up survey: 85 percent
  • MTCI: Youth three-year follow-up survey: 71 percent
  • Family and Workforce Centers of America (FWCA): Adult baseline survey: 100 percent
  • FWCA: Adult one-year follow-up survey: 71 percent
  • Denver: Adult baseline survey: 100 percent
  • Denver: Adult one-year follow-up survey: 84 percent
  • Denver: Adult 30-month follow-up survey: 79 percent
  • The Parenting Center (TPC): Adult baseline survey: 100 percent
  • TPC: Adult one-year follow-up survey: 90 percent of couples had at least one partner respond
  • Florida: Applicant characteristics survey: 99 percent for Test 1

Presence of Common Scales

Scales used included:

  • Acceptance of Couple Violence Scale
  • Attitudes About Romance and Mate Selection Scale
  • Conflict Management Subscale of the Interpersonal Competence Scale
  • Conflict Tactics Scale - Short Form
  • Gottman Sound Relationship House Questionnaires
  • Parent-Adolescent Relationship Inventory
  • Parenting Alliance Inventory
  • Patient Health Questionnaire Eight-Item Depression Scale
  • Perceived Employment Barriers Scale
  • Relationship Deciding Scale
  • Short Employment Hope Scale

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Original Release Date

2023-02-28

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Weight

The analysis files for four of the five STREAMS sites include weight variables and the user guide provides documentation for how the study teams constructed the weight variables and how they should be applied. This section provides an overview of the weight variables for each site.

The More Than Conquerors Inc. (MTCI) analysis file includes a weight variable to account for youth who did not respond to the three-year follow-up survey. The study team constructed the survey nonresponse weight by estimating a logistic regression model that predicted survey response and assigned each survey respondent an adjustment factor corresponding to the probability that the sample member would respond to the follow-up survey. Nonrespondents were assigned an adjustment factor equal to zero. The team used this weight for estimating impacts on outcomes from the three-year follow-up survey.

The Family and Workforce Centers of America (FWCA), Denver, and The Parenting Center (TPC) study teams used weights in their impact analysis to account for participants who did not respond to the follow-up survey and features specific to the sites' study designs. The teams used three types of weight variables:

  1. Base weight. For the Denver and TPC sites, the base weights account for the varying probabilities of assignment to the intervention group or the control group throughout the study enrollment period. Specifically, the base weight is equal to the inverse of the probability with which participants were randomly assigned to each research group. The FWCA analysis file does not include a base weight variable because the probability of assignment to the Career STREAMS group did not vary during study enrollment.
  2. Survey nonresponse weight. For all sites, to account for participants who did not respond to the follow-up survey, the study teams constructed a survey nonresponse weight to use for the impact analysis. The teams constructed the survey nonresponse weight by estimating a logistic regression model that predicted survey response and assigned each survey respondent an adjustment factor corresponding to the probability that the sample member would respond to the follow-up survey. Nonrespondents were assigned an adjustment factor equal to zero.
  3. Propensity score matching weight. For the FWCA site, the study team conducted an exploratory analysis to assess program impacts for participants who attended the Career STREAMS program. For this analysis, the team used propensity score matching to compare participants in the Career STREAMS group who attended a certain number of program sessions to a subset of the control group with similar background characteristics. The team examined three attendance thresholds and constructed a separate weight variable for each threshold. For each attendance threshold, the weight variable was equal to the survey nonresponse weight for participants in the Career STREAMS group who met that threshold. For comparison group members, the weight variable was equal to the sum of the survey nonresponse weights of the Career STREAMS attendees to whom they were matched. The Denver and TPC analysis files do not contain propensity score matching weight variables because the STREAMS impact analyses for these sites did not require these variables.

The Florida analysis file does not include weight variables.

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Notes