What makes young people open to the idea of divorce? What makes them resistant to that idea? Psychologist Daniel R. Stalder of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater offers illuminating answers to these questions in a new study of how “cognitive dissonance” affects marital thinking. “Cognitive dissonance,” Stalder explains, “is a psychological discom-fort created by an inconsistency […]
Read MoreAlthough the American Psychological Association (APA) boasts scholarly objectivity, the social-science guild has for years conducted studies that generate the results—from the alleged benefits of the “good” divorce to the virtues of homosexuality—that progressive activists’ itching ears want to hear. Consequently, it often falls to one brave solider to challenge the groupthink. Indeed, Mark Regnerus […]
Read MorePaul Amato, one of the revered deans of American sociology, has shown courage in bucking his academic peers, as he did when he suggested that a “good divorce” is not all that good for children (see New Research, Summer 2012). Yet the scholar has not demonstrated the same resolve in dealing with the academic and […]
Read MoreWhen it issued an official report on “lesbian and gay parenting” in 2005, the American Psychological Association (APA) made the bold claim, based on fifty-nine published studies on homosexual parenting, that “not a single study has found children of lesbian or gay parents to be disadvantaged in any significant respect relative to children of heterosexual […]
Read MoreInformed observers claim that as many as two-thirds of all divorces in America are not really necessary, as they split apart couples who report average happiness and low levels of conflict. But what about the other third? Precise statistics are difficult to come by, but adultery may very well be the precipitating cause, judging from […]
Read MorePublic-health officials have expressed deep concern about the number of young Americans who are turning into couch potatoes fastened to electronic screens. Somehow these officials never get around to talking about the changes in family life that fostered such unhealthy behavior. But a study completed at the University of Oslo and the Norwegian School of […]
Read MoreSince the no-fault regime was established in the 1970s, the so-called helping professions have performed verbal gymnastics to soothe the consciences of divorcing parents, claiming that if they work hard and maintain a “good divorce,” the effects upon their children will be minimal. Yet a groundbreaking study by Paul Amato suggests that the very concept […]
Read MoreNearly a century ago, Theodore Roosevelt warned that unless the average man and woman would have at least three children, the country would die a slow death. Judging from the latest report from the National Center for Health Statistics, the vital signs of the United States, as reflected in birthrates, are not encouraging. For the […]
Read MoreIn awarding “performance bonuses” last December to twenty-three states that signed up 1.2 million children for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the Obama administration claimed that the expansion of the welfare state advances the well-being of children. Yet if the interests of children are really a priority, why is the current administration […]
Read MoreIf Americans with higher incomes report higher levels of happiness, why have reported levels of happiness declined during the past fifty years when living standards and incomes have increased? Among economists, prevailing theories to explain the paradox rest on one of two claims: 1) that happiness depends more on whether one’s income matches that of […]
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