Hi there. I really hope you see the article in today's times that points to recent studies indicating the powerful effects marital communication styles have on the cardiovascular health of (particularly the women in) a couple. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/02/health/02well.html?_r=1&8dpc&oref=slogin
This suggests that your tools can improve not only psychological and economic condition of families but their physical health too! Such research/revelations promise to open great new avenues for you, no?
Thanks for your submission. Dr. Hirsch. I write as it prompts some questions.
I wonder why -- among all the possible places you might have started your game/"intervention" -- you started where you did (at helping players discern the difference between - and improve their skills in - "digestive" versus "rejective" communication)? Did you start there because psychologists have determined those communications questions/ problems to be significantly more predictive of -- or productive of -- fatal problems in a relationship? and if so: how much more predictive (or productive) are they than other meaningful marker that I leave you to choose? (I think that, in Blink, Malcolm Gladwell suggested that such speech habits had been proven to be either predictive or productive of such deep problems, but it's eons since I read it...) I ask because it would help us improve our understanding of how much change your game promises to effectuate.
I attempted to run "the wedding flowers" (a second game) from your website and couldn't download it. I wonder: on what does it concentrate? a different set of skills?
Third: i understand your hestitating in describing how you'll quantitatively evaluate your game's effects on behavior. At the same time, I wonder: are there any concrete goals or markers you're (quietly) hoping to achieve -- or that we (onlookers) can hope to expect -- given precedents in the field of (non-game-based) marriage counseling? All your references to outcomes (from pre-existing marriage counseling efforts/projects) are vague and non-quantitative -- making it difficult for readers to have a reasonable notion of the scale or type of change your game could prompt in the best (or worst) of circumstances.
In terms of where we started, this game is one of 8 being released this year (see http://babyfit.sparkpeople.com/healthy-relationships.asp for two others, another can be viewed on our test server at http://niven.askforcents.com/po2/grant/episode_three/trunk/platform.html), so I think it makes more sense to think of these as a suite or library rather than one stand-alone game. Over the course of the next four years the suite will grow to include approximately 30 episodes covering a wide spectrum of topics/skills demonstrated to be important for increasing marital and relationship health. The suite will all be focused for expectant parents, but will also have considerable breadth in terms of specific demographic being targeted.
In our planning we have tried to build the suite starting with some episodes that give a broad overview of the types of skills that create more stable/healthy/happy partnerships (see http://niven.askforcents.com/po2/grant/episode_three/trunk/platform.html for a game in this genre) in conjunction with games, like the one above, which hone in on specific skills which are particularly critical. We believe that both the broad strokes theory and the nitty-gritty how does it sound/how do I do it must go hand-in-hand for maximum effectiveness. We are also exploring a variety of game formats to determine what formats/features hold users most effectively. Given that they will all be used voluntarily, high entertainment value is critical to open the door to being able to pass on an educational experience.
Your recall of Gladwell's book is accurate. As John Gottman (the researcher Gladwell quotes) and many other researchers have demonstrated there are a number of highly leveraged verbal and emotional interaction patterns. At the core of this set of skills is how couples talk to and listen to each other, how they handle conflict and how much fun they have together. Learn to do these skillfully, the odds zoom up that your marriage will blossom.
In terms of concrete goals, I'm happy to be less quite about our goals. We hope to demonstrate that this vehicle for delivering marriage education (short chunks, user-initiated, web-delivered, and game-based in style (as opposed to 8-hour classroom experience or streamed video with e-mail follow-up)) will prove to be at least as effective, and possible more, than traditional marriage education courses. In volume, it certainly is far far less costly.
So, then the question of quantitative goals becomes more generally 1) does marriage matter and 2) how effective is marriage education?
The best responses to question #1, which is a strong YES, marriage does seem to matter are the pamphlet here http://www.americanvalues.org/html/r-wmm.html, Gallagher and Waites The Case for Marriage and Kay S. Hymowitz's Marriage and Caste in America. The research accumulated in the past decade from across the political spectrum is clear that marriage does seem to create very significant advantages. Hymowitz argues that class divisions in American are better described as married versus unmarried America than any other standard. She demonstrates how a marriage-oriented "life-script" creates wealth and health. Those on a different, or scriptless path do far less well.
In terms of question #2, the data is also quite clear that for many, many couples, skills-based marriage education is very effective at increasing marital quality and reducing divorce. The article at http://www.heritage.org/research/welfare/bg1606.cfm is a strong (politically neutral it isn't, but the data is good) summary.
To give a more specific number, one program for new expectant parents had no new parents who had taken the program separate or divorce at 18 mo. out compared to a 12.5% separate/divorce rate in the control group. There were 1.6M first births in the US in 2005, a 10% reduction in separations/divorces would be 160K more children in two-parent families.
Another interesting statistic-- Over one-half of births to women aged 20-24 years and nearly 3 in 10 births to women aged 25-29 years were to unmarried women. If educational materials like ours helped even a small percentage of these women form stable families, the impact could be very very significant.
These stats can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/prelimbirths05/prelimbirths05.htm.
Hope this helps put things in more context.
We really appreciate your time and thoughtfulness!
Abigail Hirsch, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Power of Two
by gordman (not verified) on November 6, 2007 - 06:40
You are perfectly right about this, all of us need a little bit more marriage education, we are dealing with feelings and we know feelings are hard to control. Perhaps this way the right people would listen and learn about their marriage problems and this way accept help more easily. I think many broken marriages still stand a chance if they decide to ask advises from a marriage counselor, and this very much depends on their will and education.
Thanks for your responses. They prompt some thoughts.
I wonder: might it not be wise for you to define more clearly, in one place in the body of your entry application, the scope of your entry (the number of games, their titles, the websites where they can be found etc) to ensure that judges consider the whole body of work you'd like to be considered?
In addition, I wonder whether you might not want to find ways of incorporating into your entry application the answers you provided above, since I think they help define more clearly for readers and judges the nature and degree of your games' innovativeness.
A potential complication of developing work on the family and marriage in a period in which both subjects are at the center of intense political contest is that one's work might be vulnerable to, or reinforcing of, political ideologies. Have you taken any measures to minimize such vulnerability? and if so, might you describe those measures? .
Hi there. I really hope you see the article in today's times that points to recent studies indicating the powerful effects marital communication styles have on the cardiovascular health of (particularly the women in) a couple. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/02/health/02well.html?_r=1&8dpc&oref=slogin
This suggests that your tools can improve not only psychological and economic condition of families but their physical health too! Such research/revelations promise to open great new avenues for you, no?
Best,
Diane
Changemakers
Thanks for your submission. Dr. Hirsch. I write as it prompts some questions.
I wonder why -- among all the possible places you might have started your game/"intervention" -- you started where you did (at helping players discern the difference between - and improve their skills in - "digestive" versus "rejective" communication)? Did you start there because psychologists have determined those communications questions/ problems to be significantly more predictive of -- or productive of -- fatal problems in a relationship? and if so: how much more predictive (or productive) are they than other meaningful marker that I leave you to choose? (I think that, in Blink, Malcolm Gladwell suggested that such speech habits had been proven to be either predictive or productive of such deep problems, but it's eons since I read it...) I ask because it would help us improve our understanding of how much change your game promises to effectuate.
I attempted to run "the wedding flowers" (a second game) from your website and couldn't download it. I wonder: on what does it concentrate? a different set of skills?
Third: i understand your hestitating in describing how you'll quantitatively evaluate your game's effects on behavior. At the same time, I wonder: are there any concrete goals or markers you're (quietly) hoping to achieve -- or that we (onlookers) can hope to expect -- given precedents in the field of (non-game-based) marriage counseling? All your references to outcomes (from pre-existing marriage counseling efforts/projects) are vague and non-quantitative -- making it difficult for readers to have a reasonable notion of the scale or type of change your game could prompt in the best (or worst) of circumstances.
I look forward to hearing your responses.
Best,
Diane
Changemakers
Excellent questions!
In terms of where we started, this game is one of 8 being released this year (see http://babyfit.sparkpeople.com/healthy-relationships.asp for two others, another can be viewed on our test server at http://niven.askforcents.com/po2/grant/episode_three/trunk/platform.html), so I think it makes more sense to think of these as a suite or library rather than one stand-alone game. Over the course of the next four years the suite will grow to include approximately 30 episodes covering a wide spectrum of topics/skills demonstrated to be important for increasing marital and relationship health. The suite will all be focused for expectant parents, but will also have considerable breadth in terms of specific demographic being targeted.
In our planning we have tried to build the suite starting with some episodes that give a broad overview of the types of skills that create more stable/healthy/happy partnerships (see http://niven.askforcents.com/po2/grant/episode_three/trunk/platform.html for a game in this genre) in conjunction with games, like the one above, which hone in on specific skills which are particularly critical. We believe that both the broad strokes theory and the nitty-gritty how does it sound/how do I do it must go hand-in-hand for maximum effectiveness. We are also exploring a variety of game formats to determine what formats/features hold users most effectively. Given that they will all be used voluntarily, high entertainment value is critical to open the door to being able to pass on an educational experience.
Your recall of Gladwell's book is accurate. As John Gottman (the researcher Gladwell quotes) and many other researchers have demonstrated there are a number of highly leveraged verbal and emotional interaction patterns. At the core of this set of skills is how couples talk to and listen to each other, how they handle conflict and how much fun they have together. Learn to do these skillfully, the odds zoom up that your marriage will blossom.
In terms of concrete goals, I'm happy to be less quite about our goals. We hope to demonstrate that this vehicle for delivering marriage education (short chunks, user-initiated, web-delivered, and game-based in style (as opposed to 8-hour classroom experience or streamed video with e-mail follow-up)) will prove to be at least as effective, and possible more, than traditional marriage education courses. In volume, it certainly is far far less costly.
So, then the question of quantitative goals becomes more generally 1) does marriage matter and 2) how effective is marriage education?
The best responses to question #1, which is a strong YES, marriage does seem to matter are the pamphlet here http://www.americanvalues.org/html/r-wmm.html, Gallagher and Waites The Case for Marriage and Kay S. Hymowitz's Marriage and Caste in America. The research accumulated in the past decade from across the political spectrum is clear that marriage does seem to create very significant advantages. Hymowitz argues that class divisions in American are better described as married versus unmarried America than any other standard. She demonstrates how a marriage-oriented "life-script" creates wealth and health. Those on a different, or scriptless path do far less well.
In terms of question #2, the data is also quite clear that for many, many couples, skills-based marriage education is very effective at increasing marital quality and reducing divorce. The article at http://www.heritage.org/research/welfare/bg1606.cfm is a strong (politically neutral it isn't, but the data is good) summary.
To give a more specific number, one program for new expectant parents had no new parents who had taken the program separate or divorce at 18 mo. out compared to a 12.5% separate/divorce rate in the control group. There were 1.6M first births in the US in 2005, a 10% reduction in separations/divorces would be 160K more children in two-parent families.
Another interesting statistic-- Over one-half of births to women aged 20-24 years and nearly 3 in 10 births to women aged 25-29 years were to unmarried women. If educational materials like ours helped even a small percentage of these women form stable families, the impact could be very very significant.
These stats can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/prelimbirths05/prelimbirths05.htm.
Hope this helps put things in more context.
We really appreciate your time and thoughtfulness!
Abigail Hirsch, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Power of Two
You are perfectly right about this, all of us need a little bit more marriage education, we are dealing with feelings and we know feelings are hard to control. Perhaps this way the right people would listen and learn about their marriage problems and this way accept help more easily. I think many broken marriages still stand a chance if they decide to ask advises from a marriage counselor, and this very much depends on their will and education.
Thanks for your responses. They prompt some thoughts.
I wonder: might it not be wise for you to define more clearly, in one place in the body of your entry application, the scope of your entry (the number of games, their titles, the websites where they can be found etc) to ensure that judges consider the whole body of work you'd like to be considered?
In addition, I wonder whether you might not want to find ways of incorporating into your entry application the answers you provided above, since I think they help define more clearly for readers and judges the nature and degree of your games' innovativeness.
A potential complication of developing work on the family and marriage in a period in which both subjects are at the center of intense political contest is that one's work might be vulnerable to, or reinforcing of, political ideologies. Have you taken any measures to minimize such vulnerability? and if so, might you describe those measures? .
I look forward to hearing your responses.
Best,
Diane
Changemakers
Hi Diane--
I've tweaked our proposal thanks to your insightful comments. Bit tricky with the space limits!
I'm trying to figure out where to speak to your question about the political climate and would love your ideas on this.
Thanks,
Abigail
Abigail Hirsch, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Power of Two