About the MAST Center

Healthy marriage and relationship education (HMRE) programming—also called marriage and relationship education or relationship education programming— teaches concepts and skills that promote healthy, safe, and stable relationships among youth and adults. The Marriage Strengthening Research and Dissemination Center (MAST Center) aims to support these efforts by:

• Conducting research on marriage and romantic relationships in the U.S. and on the programs designed to strengthen these relationships to help identify critical research gaps, generate new knowledge, and help programs more effectively serve the individuals and families they work with.
• Mentoring and supporting emerging scholars—students and early career professionals—to expand and strengthen the field of researchers studying relationships and families.
• Translating and disseminating HMRE research and evaluation resources—to make them accessible to key audiences and stakeholders, including researchers, emerging scholars, and practitioners.

The MAST Center is made up of a team of national experts in marriage and relationship research and practice, led by Child Trends in partnership with the National Center for Family and Marriage Research (NCFMR) at Bowling Green State University. The MAST Center was originally established in partnership with NCFMR and Public Strategies in 2018 by a five-year cooperative agreement from the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation within the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.