Sunday, March 23, 2014

The M.Guy Tweet, Week of March 16, 2014

1. Grieving the Gray Divorce, Chicago Tribune
As divorce rates among adults 50 and older continue to hit an all-time high, adult children of long-time married couples can find themselves shocked when their folks announce they're splitting — and find themselves grieving with few places to turn.

2. After Online Dating, Online Making Up, The New York Times
“It’s definitely helped, and now he’s getting to the point where he sends spontaneous affectionate messages on his own, which means a lot to me, and he seems more affectionate in general,” she said.

3. Time to "Go Ahead and Shack Up"?, Family Studies
Most people absorbing some aspect of recent news stories would conclude that there are no risks to cohabiting. [See the real findings about cohabition mid-article].

4. David Cameron and George Osborne Urged 'to Stop Ignoring £46 Billion Cost of Family Breakdowns', The Telegraph
A new report from the Relationship Foundation, a Cambridge-based think tank, finds that the cost of such breakdowns is £46 billion a year, equivalent to £1,541 per taxpayer.

5. Government-Funded Relationship Education Can Work, The Atlantic
The government has invested heavily in these programs because the single most important predictor of a father's engagement with his children is how well he and the mother get along, regardless of marital status.

6. Can Anything Really Be Done about Family Breakdown and American Poverty? A Q&A with Brad Wilcox, AEIdeas
I think we have to take a page here from the progress we’ve made on teen pregnancy in the United States, where we’ve cut the teen pregnancy rate by 50% in recent decades because of a concerted campaign that’s been supported by the government, by civic institutions, and by major cultural actors to get behind a common message to our younger Americans. . . And if we can change that behavior, who’s to say we can’t also reconnect marriage and parenthood for Americans in their 20s, where now, today, most non-marital births take place.

7. Teen Births Are Falling: What’s Going On?, Brookings
We attribute the decline in the more recent period in the U.S. to a continuation of those broadly experienced ongoing trends plus an acceleration due largely to the effects of the high unemployment rate and to the impact of media influences, particularly MTV’s reality TV show, 16 and Pregnant.

For more, see here.

Monday, March 10, 2014

The M.Guy Tweet, Week of March 2, 2014

1. Older Americans' Breakups Are Causing A 'Graying' Divorce Trend, NPR News
"Back in 1990, fewer than 1 in 10 persons who got divorced was over the age of 50," says Brown. But today, "1 in 4 people getting divorced is 50 or older."

2. For Utah Parents, Hurdle to Divorce Could Advance, ABC News
Alan Hawkins, a professor at Brigham Young University's School of Family Life, said Nielson's bill would help lower the numbers of people who divorce by installing a necessary yellow light.

3. Ala. Looks At Mandating Divorce Classes For Parents, USA Today
The bill, sponsored by GOP Rep. Bill Poole of Northport, Ala., would require couples with children younger than 16 to take a four-hour class to increase parents' sensitivity to their children's needs during a divorce or separation proceeding.

4. Surprisingly, Most Married Families Today Tilt Neo-Traditional, Family Studies
It’s new in the sense that today’s married dads do a lot more child care and housework than dads of the 1950s, and that most married moms are working in the paid labor force. But it’s “traditional” in the sense that most husbands take the lead when it comes to breadwinning, and most wives take the lead when it comes to childrearing.
 
5. All Sex All the Time, National Review Online
It would seem, though, that an effective approach to lowering the unplanned-pregnancy rate among unmarried twentysomething women wouldn’t encourage behaviors — such as drunken, casual sex or multiple sexual partners — that can have a negative long-term impact on the still nearly universal aspiration toward marriage.

6. The Father Factor: What Happens When Dad Is Nowhere To Be Found?, Deseret News
Twenty-four million American children - one in three - are growing up in homes without their biological fathers, the 2011 Census says. Children in father-absent homes, it notes, are almost four times more likely to be poor.
Twenty-four million American children — one in three — are growing up in homes without their biological fathers, the 2011 Census says. Children in father-absent homes, it notes, are almost four times more likely to be poor.
Read more at http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865597043/The-father-factor-What-happens-when-dad-is-nowhere-to-be-found.html#tmh4LytfCY9yOm4G.99
Twenty-four million American children — one in three — are growing up in homes without their biological fathers, the 2011 Census says. Children in father-absent homes, it notes, are almost four times more likely to be poor.
Read more at http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865597043/The-father-factor-What-happens-when-dad-is-nowhere-to-be-found.html#tmh4LytfCY9yOm4G.99
Twenty-four million American children — one in three — are growing up in homes without their biological fathers, the 2011 Census says. Children in father-absent homes, it notes, are almost four times more likely to be poor.
Read more at http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865597043/The-father-factor-What-happens-when-dad-is-nowhere-to-be-found.html#tmh4LytfCY9yOm4G.99

Twenty-four million American children — one in three — are growing up in homes without their biological fathers, the 2011 Census says. Children in father-absent homes, it notes, are almost four times more likely to be poor.
Read more at http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865597043/The-father-factor-What-happens-when-dad-is-nowhere-to-be-found.html#tmh4LytfCY9yOm4G.99
7. How to Talk So Your Partner Will Listen, WebMD
Researchers at the University of Chicago found that most married couples don't communicate with their partners any better than they do with strangers.

For more, see here.