Monday, June 16, 2014

The M.Guy Tweet, Week of June 8, 2014

1. Daddy's Influence? The Surprising Connection Between Fathers And Their Offspring During Pregnancy, Today
Infants whose fathers were absent— and had no involvement in the pregnancy— were more likely to be born with lower birth weight and to be born prematurely. 

2. Protecting Women and Girls, National Review Online
We were particularly concerned with spotlighting the danger that family instability — and the presence of an unrelated male in the home — poses to girls (and boys), a danger that is markedly lower for children in intact families.

3. Marriage And Money (Part One) -- Couples' Hindsight After The Honeymoon Is Over, The Wall Street Journal
[W]hen asked about important attributes when considering a spouse, 95 percent of respondents rate "financial responsibility" as important, with "physical attractiveness" and "career ambition" trailing at 86 percent and 77 percent, respectively.

4. For Millennials, Parenthood Trumps Marriage, Pew Research
Pew Research surveys also find that Millennials are less likely than adults ages 30 and older to say that a child needs a home with both a father and mother to grow up happily and that single parenthood and unmarried couple parenthood are bad for society.

5. The Transformative Power of Fatherhood, The National Review Online
Indeed, Harvard sociologist Robert Sampson has found that one of the better predictors of violence at the neighborhood level is the presence of large numbers of fatherless homes.

6. Obama Gets It Right, When It Comes to Fatherhood, Family Studies
Obama’s words are consistent with the general tenor of the research on fatherhood in the United States, which suggests that dads play an important role in increasing the odds that children thrive—emotionally, socially, and economically—across the nation.

7. Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews Says Taxpayers Could Provide Parents With Marriage Education, The Australian
He said before couples had a baby they did antenatal classes, were given information about the birth process and how to look after a new-born but no support was offered to help couples themselves deal with the life-changing event.

For more, see here.

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

The M.Guy Tweet, Week of May 25, 2014

1. One Wealthy Couple's Mission to Save Marriages, En Masse, National Public Radio
"What most people do, in getting into a serious conversation, is make mistakes right from the beginning. . . So these are structured, sensitive ways to get into — and stay with — a delicate conversation."

2. Pro-Family Policies to Strengthen Marriage and Help Children, Family Studies
Given their size in the population, and the central role that they have played in the American experiment, the growing fragility of family life in Middle America is cause for concern.

3. Many Moral Attitudes Have Changed, but Infidelity Remains Very Unacceptable, Sliding vs. Deciding
People's behavior tilts strongly toward increased faithfulness in marriage while cohabitation is not actually associated with higher levels of fidelity. Many people believe that it is or should be but, in fact, cohabiters have levels of faithfulness similar to daters. 

4. Building Strong Marriages, One at a Time, Public Discourse
Among women with less than a high school diploma, 65 percent of births are to single mothers; among those with no more than a high school diploma, the rate is about 55 percent. . . In contrast, among college graduates, the rate is not much higher than the overall rate back in the 1960s: about 8 percent.

5. 2014 Morning Roundtables: Success Stories of Twogether in Texas, NARME (National Association of Relationship and Marriage Education) Conference
Hear about how premarital legislation in Texas has been put into action. There will be providers from Texas to talk about the success of this program. Come learn how to bring this legislation into your state as well.

6. To Help Young Women, Offer Relief from Student Loan Debt, Family Studies
All of this raises the question: Are women putting off the things that studies consistently find they still want—marriage and family—because they want to, or because they feel like they have no choice?

7. Relate Cambridge Offers Counselling Gift Vouchers as Wedding Presents, BBC
"Relate Cambridge is recognising the importance of the preventative work it does on relationships with the new gift vouchers," the charity's Elaine Taylor said.

For more, see here.