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Families & Parents Center:
Trends & Research
The Trends section is designed to keep you up-to-date on what's happening within our churches and in the broader culture and society that is having an impact on faith formation with families and parents today. The Research section is designed to provide reports and summaries of social and religious research studies on families and parents that you can use in teaching and workshops, in program development, and in planning for family faith formation and parent education. To select an article just click on the title. For some of the links you will be going directly to the research study's website.
New: Religiosity, Homogamy, and Marital Adjustment,” by David G. Schramm, James P. Marshall, Victor W. Harris, Thomas R. Lee, Journal of Family Issues, February 2012, 22(02): 246-26
In first marriages, husband and wives who are very religious are more likely to score significantly higher on marital adjustment scores, especially compared with those who are less religious. When husband and wives come from the same religious denomination, their marital adjustment scores are also higher compared to those who come from different denominations.
Building Strong Families: What Parents Need to Succeed - YMCA & Search Institute
This report offers a glimpse into some of the strengths of parents and which factors help them feel more successful. This research project, a poll of 1,005 U.S. parents, shows that, despite general feelings of success, most parents receive little support or affirmation for their parenting effort. The report identifies five major findings and seeks to begin balancing the preponderance of research and public attitudes that focus on the negatives, and, in the process, to challenge our society to focus even more energy on building strong kids, strong families, and strong communities.
(Source: Search Institute, www.search-institute.org/research/families)
The Changing American Family - Pew Social Trends
Decades of demographic, economic, and social change have transformed the structure and composition of the American family. The interactive charts online at Pew Research show trends related to marriage, children, and household composition. Check out the complete research report, The Decline of Marriage and the Rise of New Families, in the Research Studies section.
The Decline of Marriage and the Rise of New Families (2010) - Pew Research
The transformative trends of the past 50 years that have led to a sharp decline in marriage and a rise of new family forms have been shaped by attitudes and behaviors that differ by class, age and race, according to this new Pew Research Center nationwide survey.
(Source: http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1802/decline-marriage-rise-new-families)
Family Time Has Grown - Tara Parker-Pope
(Source: New York Times, April 5, 2010)
How Family Religious Involvement Benefits Adults, Youth, and Children and Strengthens Families - David C. Dollahite and Jennifer Y. Thatcher
A growing body of empirical research demonstrates that a family’s religious involvement directly benefits adults, children and youth in many ways. Divorce rates are lower and marital satisfaction and quality scores highest among religiously involved couples. Religious practices are linked with family satisfaction, closer father-child relationships, and closer parent-child relationships. There is less domestic violence among more religious couples and religious parents are less likely to abuse or yell at their children. Religious involvement promotes involved and responsible fathering and is associated with more involved mothering. Greater religiosity in parents and youth is associated with a variety of protective factors for adolescents.
(Source: Sutherland Institute, http://www.sjlpp.org/documents/dollahite92605.pdf)
Interview with Dr. Penny Edgell, author of Religion and Family in a Changing Society
Keeping the Faith at Home - Christian Science Monitor Magazine
The Dec. 20, 2010 Christian Science Monitor weekly magazine had a cover story project of several articles on how parents keep the faith. Among the articles includes in this issue: "The Rock of Belief is at Home" and
"Home Is Their Church."
Networked Families (2008) - Pew Research
Technology now permeates American households and has become a central feature of families’ day-to-day lives. This Pew Internet & American Life report presents a picture of the networked household: how American families are using a wide range of communication media to keep in contact with each other; and how married couples with minor children stand out because they have higher rates of internet and cell phone usage, computer ownership, and broadband adoption than other household configuration.
(Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project, www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2008/Networked-Families.aspx)
A Portrait of Stepfamilies - Pew Research Center
Today, more than four-in-ten American adults have at least one step relative in their family – either a stepparent, a step or half sibling or a stepchild, according to a nationwide Pew Research Center survey. People with step relatives are just as likely as others to say that family is the most important element of their life. However, they typically feel a stronger sense of obligation to their biological family members (be it a parent, a child or a sibling) than to their step relatives, the survey finds.
A Reminder of an Oft-Forgotten Reality - David Frazee
This article describes how parents matter in the spiritual formation of their children.
(Source: Fuller Youth Institute, http://fulleryouthinstitute.org/2008/12/a-reminder-of-an-often-forgotten-reality)
Something Is Not Right - David Frazee
The article revisits our definition of family.
(Source: Fuller Youth Institute, http://fulleryouthinstitute.org/2009/01/something-is-not-right)
The State of Family Ministry - Christy Yount Jones
(Source: Children's Ministry Magazine, Jan/Feb 2009)
When Marriage Disappears - National Marriage Project
In Middle America, marriage is in trouble. Among the affluent, marriage is stable and may even be getting stronger. Among the poor, marriage continues to be fragile and weak. But the most consequential marriage trend of our time concerns the broad center of our society, where marriage, that iconic middle-class institution, is foundering. For the last few decades, the retreat from marriage has been regarded largely as a problem afflicting the poor. But today, it is spreading into the solid middle of the middle class. The numbers are clear. Communities that make up the bedrock of the American middle class—whether small-town Maine, the working-class suburbs of southern Ohio, the farmlands of rural Arkansas, or the factory towns of North Carolina—the data tell the same story: Divorce is high, nonmarital childbearing is spreading, and marital bliss is in increasingly short supply.
In first marriages, husband and wives who are very religious are more likely to score significantly higher on marital adjustment scores, especially compared with those who are less religious. When husband and wives come from the same religious denomination, their marital adjustment scores are also higher compared to those who come from different denominations.
Building Strong Families: What Parents Need to Succeed - YMCA & Search Institute
This report offers a glimpse into some of the strengths of parents and which factors help them feel more successful. This research project, a poll of 1,005 U.S. parents, shows that, despite general feelings of success, most parents receive little support or affirmation for their parenting effort. The report identifies five major findings and seeks to begin balancing the preponderance of research and public attitudes that focus on the negatives, and, in the process, to challenge our society to focus even more energy on building strong kids, strong families, and strong communities.
(Source: Search Institute, www.search-institute.org/research/families)
- Building Strong Families In-depth Report
- Building Strong Families 2004 Report (A Study of African American and Hispanic/Latino Families)
- Building Strong Families Highlights
- Building Strong Families Fact Sheet
- Building Strong Families PowerPoint
- Building Strong Families PowerPoint Notes
- Building Strong Families Quiz
The Changing American Family - Pew Social Trends
Decades of demographic, economic, and social change have transformed the structure and composition of the American family. The interactive charts online at Pew Research show trends related to marriage, children, and household composition. Check out the complete research report, The Decline of Marriage and the Rise of New Families, in the Research Studies section.
The Decline of Marriage and the Rise of New Families (2010) - Pew Research
The transformative trends of the past 50 years that have led to a sharp decline in marriage and a rise of new family forms have been shaped by attitudes and behaviors that differ by class, age and race, according to this new Pew Research Center nationwide survey.
(Source: http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1802/decline-marriage-rise-new-families)
Family Time Has Grown - Tara Parker-Pope
(Source: New York Times, April 5, 2010)
How Family Religious Involvement Benefits Adults, Youth, and Children and Strengthens Families - David C. Dollahite and Jennifer Y. Thatcher
A growing body of empirical research demonstrates that a family’s religious involvement directly benefits adults, children and youth in many ways. Divorce rates are lower and marital satisfaction and quality scores highest among religiously involved couples. Religious practices are linked with family satisfaction, closer father-child relationships, and closer parent-child relationships. There is less domestic violence among more religious couples and religious parents are less likely to abuse or yell at their children. Religious involvement promotes involved and responsible fathering and is associated with more involved mothering. Greater religiosity in parents and youth is associated with a variety of protective factors for adolescents.
(Source: Sutherland Institute, http://www.sjlpp.org/documents/dollahite92605.pdf)
Interview with Dr. Penny Edgell, author of Religion and Family in a Changing Society
Keeping the Faith at Home - Christian Science Monitor Magazine
The Dec. 20, 2010 Christian Science Monitor weekly magazine had a cover story project of several articles on how parents keep the faith. Among the articles includes in this issue: "The Rock of Belief is at Home" and
"Home Is Their Church."
- Check out this issue at: www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Religion/2010/1219/How-parents-keep-the-faith-The-rock-of-belief-is-at-home.
Networked Families (2008) - Pew Research
Technology now permeates American households and has become a central feature of families’ day-to-day lives. This Pew Internet & American Life report presents a picture of the networked household: how American families are using a wide range of communication media to keep in contact with each other; and how married couples with minor children stand out because they have higher rates of internet and cell phone usage, computer ownership, and broadband adoption than other household configuration.
(Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project, www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2008/Networked-Families.aspx)
A Portrait of Stepfamilies - Pew Research Center
Today, more than four-in-ten American adults have at least one step relative in their family – either a stepparent, a step or half sibling or a stepchild, according to a nationwide Pew Research Center survey. People with step relatives are just as likely as others to say that family is the most important element of their life. However, they typically feel a stronger sense of obligation to their biological family members (be it a parent, a child or a sibling) than to their step relatives, the survey finds.
- Follow this link to read the report: http://pewsocialtrends.org/2011/01/13/a-portrait-of-stepfamilies
A Reminder of an Oft-Forgotten Reality - David Frazee
This article describes how parents matter in the spiritual formation of their children.
(Source: Fuller Youth Institute, http://fulleryouthinstitute.org/2008/12/a-reminder-of-an-often-forgotten-reality)
Something Is Not Right - David Frazee
The article revisits our definition of family.
(Source: Fuller Youth Institute, http://fulleryouthinstitute.org/2009/01/something-is-not-right)
The State of Family Ministry - Christy Yount Jones
(Source: Children's Ministry Magazine, Jan/Feb 2009)
When Marriage Disappears - National Marriage Project
In Middle America, marriage is in trouble. Among the affluent, marriage is stable and may even be getting stronger. Among the poor, marriage continues to be fragile and weak. But the most consequential marriage trend of our time concerns the broad center of our society, where marriage, that iconic middle-class institution, is foundering. For the last few decades, the retreat from marriage has been regarded largely as a problem afflicting the poor. But today, it is spreading into the solid middle of the middle class. The numbers are clear. Communities that make up the bedrock of the American middle class—whether small-town Maine, the working-class suburbs of southern Ohio, the farmlands of rural Arkansas, or the factory towns of North Carolina—the data tell the same story: Divorce is high, nonmarital childbearing is spreading, and marital bliss is in increasingly short supply.
- Read the whole report at www.stateofourunions.org/2010/when-marriage-disappears.php
