In a follow-up study in which they traced 150 of 300 couples mentored in the past five years, the Parrots said they found not a single instance of divorce. Yet another new effort to save marriages early is the community marriage policy. Religious institutions of all denominations in a community sign an agreement to perform weddings only for couples who undergo training in communication and conflict resolution. The goal is to affect as many couples as possible, since 74 percent of marriages are performed by the clergy. The most recent one was signed last month for Minneapolis-St.
All taxpayers bear the expenses of family breakdown.
He has initiated America's first total community marriage policy, involving judges and magistrates as well as members of the clergy. Starting next week, all couples seeking a marriage license in Lenawee County, Mich., will first have to receive marital education by a certified professional. Dr. David H. Olson, a professor of family psychology at the University of Minnesota, has developed a 165-item questionnaire, called Prepare, that partners fill out independently of each other. Their scores proved to be in the same range as those of couples who ultimately divorced, Olson reported. To be really effective, education about realtionships should begin in high school, Dr. Olson believes.