- History
- Mission
- Rationale
- Research
- Publications
- In the News
- Outreach
- Personnel
- Director
- Contact/Location
- Home
- The National Marriage Project (NMP) is a nonpartisan, nonsectarian, and interdisciplinary initiative located at the University of Virginia. The Project's mission is to provide research and analysis on the health of marriage in America, to analyze the social and cultural forces shaping contemporary marriage, and to identify strategies to increase marital quality and stability.
Rationale
The last half-century has witnessed profound changes in the meaning and functions of marriage in the United States. Increases in expressive individualism, the shift towards a postindustrial economy, the rise in women’s social and economic status, and the relative decline in the social and economic functions associated with the family have all reshaped the nature of contemporary married life. These changes present opportunities (e.g., the rise in men’s emotional engagement in family life) and challenges (e.g., the increase in divorce) to the institution of marriage. The National Marriage Project aims to understand the social, economic, and cultural forces shaping the quality and stability of married life, and to identify strategies that will strengthen marriage in America. In service of its mission, the NMP conducts original empirical research, surveys the scholarly literature, and communicates its findings to scholars and the broader public.