Oklahoma Marriage Initiative statewide baseline survey

              Oklahoma Marriage Initiative Statewide Baseline Survey
Bureau for Social Research, Oklahoma State University
Fall 2001
Reference/Citation: Johnson, C. A., & Stanley, S. M. (Eds.). (2001, Fall). The Oklahoma Marriage Initiative Statewide Baseline Survey (Available from the Bureau for Social Research, Oklahoma State University, 306 HES, Stillwater, OK 74078-6117)
Contributors: Christine A. Johnson (Oklahoma State University), Scott M. Stanley (University of Denver), Steven L. Nock (University of Virginia), Norval D. Glenn (University of Texas), Paul R. Amato (Pennsylvania State University), Mark Nielsen (National Opinion Research Center), Kenneth Kickham (Oklahoma Department of Human Services), Dick Lorenz (Oklahoma Department of Health), Jerry Regier (Oklahoma Cabinet Secretary for Health and Human Services), Theodora Ooms (Center for Law and Social Policy), & Mary Myrick (Public Strategies).
Methodology: Purpose: This research project was conducted as part of the evaluation for the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative. In 1999 Governor Frank Keating announced the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative, with the objective of reducing the divorce rate in Oklahoma by 1/3 by the year 2010. One aim of the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative is to change the culture of support for marriage in Oklahoma. Consequently, a component in evaluating the effectiveness of the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative is to assess the “culture of marriage” and “culture of divorce” in Oklahoma. One objective of the survey was to assess the long-term impact of the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative on a broad range of indicators related to marital, cohabitation, and family relationships in Oklahoma. A second objective was to gather demographic data on patterns of cohabitation, intent to marry, marriage, divorce, and remarriage among Oklahomans. To ensure that the data were representative of low-income families in Oklahoma, additional interviews were completed with Oklahoma Medicaid clients. To form a comparison group, residents of neighboring states (Texas, Kansas, and Arkansas) were also surveyed.
Subjects and Sampling Procedures: Subjects consisted of adult residents of randomly selected households within Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, and Arkansas. Telephone numbers of households in these states were acquired through random digit generation methods from a reputable research sampling company. Interviews were completed with residents of 2,000 Oklahoma households and 1,000 residents of households in neighboring states (Texas, Kansas, and Arkansas).
To ensure that the data were representative of low-income families, 300 additional interviews were completed with Oklahoma Medicaid clients. For this sample, names of current Medicaid clients were randomly selected from the Oklahoma Department of Human Services’ database of Medicaid clients. A pre-notification letter was mailed to the selected clients which described the study, gave a toll-free telephone number for clients to call in to complete the survey, and indicated that persons would be paid $15 for completing the interview.
Survey Instrument: The survey was administered as a telephone interview and included questions on the following topics: 1) attitudes about intimate relationships, marriage, family, and divorce, 2) demographic data on marriage, divorce, remarriage, patterns of cohabitation, and intent to marry/remarry, 3) qualitative information on couples’ relationship quality, and 4) knowledge and acceptance of preventative education. Interviews typically lasted between 15 and 20 minutes.
Response Rate: To be calculated/determined
1