The history of twentieth-century Russia is one of social and political upheaval, and the family, being the “natural and fundamental group unit of society” (Article 16.3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights), could not escape being profoundly affected.1 Society’s development and its stability and prosperity depend, among other things, on the continuous growth or, […]
Read MoreTwo principles recognize and support the existence of key mediating or bridging structures in society, such as families and voluntary associations. First, public policy should protect and foster marriage and family; and, secondly, wherever possible, public policy should utilize the family and community organizations, rather than displacing them. These principles arise from a belief that […]
Read MoreWhere Are We Now? We can all agree that the traditional family model is under threat and that this unfortunate development will have profound consequences for our society, economy, and quality of life in the future. The “uncomfortable truth” which underpins the discussions that we will have over the course of this conference is that […]
Read MoreA Remembrance In October 1997, John C. Howard and Allan C. Carlson formed The Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society, publisher of The Family in America and parent organization of World Congress of Families. The Howard Center, to this day, is a Virginia corporation doing business in Illinois, in large part, due to the […]
Read More
Almost two decades ago, the flagship journal Social Forces published a landmark 1994 study analyzing the well-being of children living in different kinds of family structure. Now Elizabeth Thomson and Sara McLanahan, two of the authors of that original study, have published a retrospective commentary highlighting “the article’s popularity as a referent point for subsequent research” and underscoring the degree to which “subsequent research [has] confirmed many of [their] findings.”
Read MoreFew public-health issues have received more attention in recent years than that of childhood obesity. And because of the way childhood obesity predicts adult diabetes, heart disease, and other health problems, this attention is well warranted. However, a closer look at the matter reveals that the commentators bewailing the upsurge in childhood obesity have been […]
Read MoreIn recent decades, social scientists have accrued considerable evidence indicating that out-of-control preschoolers often mature into disturbed and disruptive adults. And now a new study has established that the toddlers headed for a lifetime of distress disproportionately come from single-parent households. Conducted by researchers at the University of Glasgow and national public-health agencies, this new […]
Read MoreIn this age of increased egalitarianism in work and domestic roles, many researchers have sought to discover how changing roles influence one component of the glue that binds married couples together—sex. Much media attention has been given to a handful of studies that demonstrate that husbands who do more housework get more sex, as their […]
Read More
How the West Really Lost God: A New Theory of Secularization Mary Eberstadt Templeton Press, 2013; 272 pages, $24.95 This is perhaps the clearest and most informative work yet published on the sociology of American religion and also the best, a work that carries the subject to a level that all subsequent analysts need to […]
Read MoreAnxious about the long-term effects of depressed fertility, demographers are pondering unexpected questions these days. One of these questions—might divorce actually foster fertility?—recently received attention from a team of demographers from Sweden, Canada, and Austria, countries that all share the dubious characteristic of sub-replacement fertility, with Austria reporting the lowest fertility. Acutely aware that “during […]
Read More