This marks the 100^th issue of Family Focus! From its inception to now, Family Focus has served as a resource that instructors use in the classroom and that members draw on for personal and professional enrichment. This issue focuses on how the need for connection, companionship, and intimacy through romantic relationships is foundational to Family Science. To encourage, nurture, and sustain healthy relationships requires an appreciation of context, changes over time, and differences across generations. The articles in this issue explore these complexities and provide an opportunity to consider more deeply what constitutes connection, companionship, and intimacy in contemporary romantic relationships.

Family Focus

Access to Family Focus articles is a benefit of NCFR membership — join today!

• Overview and Introduction: Romantic Relationships — Joyce Serido, Ph.D., Professor Emerita, Family Focus Editor
• Older Adults Searching for Love: The Experiences and Motivations of Later-Life Repartnering — Lauren E. Harris, Ph.D.
• The Role of Healthy Romantic Relationships in Adolescent Adjustment and Well-Being — Charlene Harris, Ph.D., CFLE
• Online Dating and Attachment Strategies: Recommendations — Amanda Grieme Bradley, Ph.D., LMFT
• Ghosting Out of Romantic Relationships — Darcey N. Powell, Ph.D., CFLE; and Gili Freedman, Ph.D.
• Emerging Adults With Disabilities: Looking Online for Love — Elizabeth Mazur, Ph.D.
• Supporting People With Intellectual Disabilities in Romantic Relationships — Jennifer I. S. Kendrick, LCSW, LMFT, doctoral student
• It Takes a Village: How Familial, Religious, and Friendship Networks Support Lasting African American Marriages — Cassandra Bolar, Ph.D., CFLE; Christina Grange, Ph.D.; Ashley Sanders, Ph.D.; Brittany Hinkle, Ph.D.; and Brianna Lemmons, Ph.D.
• Ace-ing Relationships — Tiffany Burnette, MT-BC, CFLE-P, CFLC
• The More the Merrier: Including Ethical Non-Monogamous Families in Family Science Research and Practice — Mari Tarantino, M.S., doctoral student; Pond Ezra, M.S., doctoral student; and Leah Young, undergraduate student
• Is Marriage Still a Thing? Implicit Theories of the Marital Institution — Scott S. Hall, Ph.D., CFLE

Family Focus PDF (members only)

News and Updates

News articles and updates are open to the public.

• Envisioning NCFR's Future — Bethany L. Letiecq, Ph.D., NCFR President
• Preparing NCFR for Its Next Era — Kevin Lynch, Interim Executive Director
• Call for Submissions: Summer 2025, Methods and Measures in Family Science — Proposals due Aug. 15