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The mission of the NCMR is threefold: research, training, and dissemination. NCMR conducts superior research on key questions about the effects of marriage on the health and well-being of children, adults, families, and communities as well as the influence of programs and policies on marriage. The NCMR builds research capacity with improved data and methods, and bring together multidisciplinary networks of scholars. Under its training mission, the NCMR mentors and trains students and junior professionals to ensure continued advancement in research on marriage and family structure. Its dissemination mission is to translate research on marriage and family to broad communities, including researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.
Research
The NCMR has a multifaceted strategy to facilitate new research on marriage and family structure. A central aim of the Center is to provide intellectual leadership and shape the direction for new research and training. We are building new capacity for marriage and family research through a strong program of research collaboration and development of an extensive data and measurement infrastructure. The research collaboration program includes seminars, conferences, workshops, visiting scholars, and postdoctoral fellowships. The data and measurement infrastructure includes the provision of data descriptions, workshops and training seminars on data use, the creation of a marriage/divorce database, data outreach efforts, topic-specific research briefs, and consultation for pilot data collection efforts.
Training
A central mission of the NCMR is to train and mentor the next generation of marriage and family structure researchers. Our goal is to bring together a diverse group of emerging scholars from across the social sciences (e.g., human development, psychology, sociology, economics, and demography) with interests in marriage, family structure, and well-being. The NCMR offers new opportunities for strengthening the ties among senior and junior colleagues and students and will support one postdoctoral fellow and three graduate assistants each year.
Dissemination
Researchers often aspire to share their work with broad audiences but lack the time, skills, or networks to locate a diverse audience of academics, policymakers, and social service practitioners. The NCMR disseminates research through workshops, conferences, and seminars; research briefs, conference proceedings, and news releases highlighting key questions and major research findings; and targeted electronic format mailings to policymakers, academic institutions, and marriage promotion practitioners. The NCMR also collaborates with the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center (NHMRC) [www.healthymarriageinfo.org] to ensure that new research reaches broad audiences.
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