Policymakers are concerned by the high rates of divorce and out-of-wedlock births and their implications for the health and well-being of children. Among their strategies to address these concerns, some states are focusing on adolescents, taking preventive steps to educate youth about the importance of healthy marriages and help them build the skills necessary for strong relationships.

More than 2,000 schools across the country currently offer courses on some type of relationship education. Relationship and marriage education are also being integrated into community-based efforts, such as teen pregnancy prevention programs, abstinence education, and youth development initiatives. These efforts have produced several lessons to guide program development, including the following.

• Involve teens in designing or getting feedback on programs.
• Draw on the growing body of social science research findings on the benefits of marriage for children and adults.
• Build on existing efforts; states do not need to implement new programs or expend large amounts of state resources to integrate marriage education into existing programs.
• Use culturally and age-appropriate materials.