Parents and Children Together (PACT) Healthy Marriage (HM) Study Data Collection, New York and Texas, 2013-2016

The Parents and Children Together (PACT) project included a large-scale, random assignment examination of two federally funded healthy marriage (HM) and relationship education programs. Two HM programs participated in the PACT HM impact study: (1) Supporting Healthy Relationships, at University Behavioral Associates in the Bronx, New York; and (2) the Healthy Opportunities for Marriage Enrichment Program, at the El Paso Center for Children in El Paso, Texas. The PACT evaluation team randomly assigned 1,595 eligible couples, dividing them between either (1) a program group, which was offered HM services, or (2) a control group, which was not offered these services. The data collection effort covered many topics, including relationship status and quality, coparenting, intimate partner violence, father involvement, employment and earnings, and social-emotional and mental well-being. The PACT data collection effort included attempts to collect data for each couple enrolled in the study from three data sources: (1) baseline surveys completed by all couples when they applied to a HM program in PACT, (2) follow-up surveys conducted with couples about one year after study enrollment, and (3) the PACT Information System (PACTIS), a web-based information management system. This data collection contains five parts: (1) the baseline survey raw data file, (2) the 12-month survey raw data file, (3) the program participation file, (4) the 12-month follow-up analysis file, and (5) the file containing analysis weights.