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Government Can't Save Marriage!
It is a well-known fact that unstable families and divorce cost taxpayers. According to a [strong]2008 Institute for American Values study,[/strong] increasing family stability by even 1 percent can result in $43 million of savings for Oklahoma state government.[1] [1. The study referred to here ...
Fathers Matter, Especially After Divorce
Not only do fathers matter, but fathers could play the most definitive role in shaping the future faith of their children, especially divorced fathers. When we support the faith lives of the fathers in our religious communities, especially those who are divorced, the fruits of that investment are bo...
Future hangs on making it harder to get divorce
Family scholars at the National Marriage Project and the Institute for American Values highlight a large-scale "exodus from marriage" among young Americans with high school but no college education: a staggering 44 percent of their children are being born outside marriage. Because having married bio...
'Hitching up,' for a strong middle class: Strengthening the Middle Class Starts at Home
The "Knot Yet" report shows that Middle American young adults still aspire to marriage--about 80 percent say that marriage is an "important" part of their life plans. But before they reach the altar, most are having their first child outside of marriage, often in a cohabiting relationship. Indeed, m...
Religion, Divorce, and American Teens – with Melinda Lundquist Denton
Amy Ziettlow converses with Melinda Lundquist Denton, Professor in the Social Sciences at Clemson University. They discuss Denton's ground-breaking analysis concerning the impact of divorce on the practice and experience of the faith of teenagers and young adults.
The Hazzards' of Marriage, Family, and Faith
Our new report calls pastors and lay people to recognize that the children of divorce in our midst often feel like the General Lee before a commercial break, held aloft in a canyon-spanning jump, the Waylon Jennings voiceover expressing their anxiety: "As I leap from Dad's world to Mom's world, who ...
Faith and Children of Divorce – with Chuck Stokes
Amy Ziettlow discusses faith and children of divorce with Charles E. Stokes, Professor at Samford University and co-author of "Does the Shape of Families Shape Faith? Challenging Churches to Confront Family Change."
Shape or be shaped: Christians in an era of marriage decline
...a new report from family scholars at the Institute for American Values investigates one way in which fragmentation of the family impacts on the individual believer and therefore on churches. The report, Does the Shape of Families Shape Faith? focuses on the religious and spiritual lives of young ...
Does getting a divorce change your kids' view on religion?
Elizabeth Marquardt discusses the impact divorcing parents have on their children's religious views.
The Science of Divorce
But, every once in a while something or somebody comes along in the church and points to actual research that most clearly indicates the ongoing challenge to the direction of American culture and marriage/divorce/cohabitation values. But there is a lot going on in the behavior sciences research wor...
How Divorce Affects Faith
A new paper entitled "Does the Shape of Families Shape Faith?" from the Center for Marriage and Families looks at the spiritual life of children of divorce as adults. It found that those whose parents split are less likely to feel religious or act religiously as adults than those whose parents staye...
Divorce breeds spiritual disconnect
A recent study concludes children whose parents divorce when they are young are less likely to be religious later in life. According to the study, two-thirds of young adults who grew up in a home with married parents are more religious than young adults who grew up in families with divorced parents....
Churches Should Focus on Children of 'Good Divorce,' Study Suggests
The report, titled "Does the Shape of Families Shape Faith?", is comprised of papers from family and religious studies experts who together declare "that today's grown children of divorce form a 'broken leading edge' of the trend of more Americans considering themselves 'spiritual but not religious'...
Divorce's Toll
The Marquardt/Zietlow report begins with a question: "Does the Shape of Families Shape Faith? Challenging the Churches to Confront the Impact of Family Change." The language of the report is not whiny or scolding, but, armed with statistics and ethnographic scripts and personal testimonies the docum...
Facets of Faith for Jan. 19, 2013
Does divorce affect the religion of children, and if so, how much? The Institute for American Values explores the issue in "Does the Shape of Families Shape Faith?" a report released Wednesday... In the report's summary, the authors say, "We have learned that when children of divorce reach adulthood...
Lessons From American Girl Dolls: The Divorce Generation
As someone who studies Gen X caregiving, grief, and loss in an era of high family fragmentation, I should not have been surprised that the key marker of change for my generation lies in parental divorce. Author of the American Girl books about Julie, Megan McDonald, confirmed my realization. She wri...
Study: Children of Divorce Less Likely to Practice Religion
On Wednesday the Institute for American Values published the findings of a group of scholars in a report titled "Does the Shape of Families Shape Faith?: Challenging the Churches to Confront the Impact of Family Change." Every year about a million children in the United States experience the divorce...
The Spiritual Impacts of Divorce on Children: Does the Shape of Families Shape Faith?
Yesterday, the Institute for American Values released a new report titled "Does the Shape of Families Shape Faith?" The report, written by Elizabeth Marquardt, Amy Ziettlow, and Charles E. Stokes, represents a call to action for churches in regards to ministering to children of divorce... It is an e...
Faith and Family (After Divorce)
A new report from the Institute for American Values explores the complicated ways in which a child's family structure, particularly the experience of parents' divorce, can affect his or her religious practices as an adult. Coauthors Elizabeth Marquardt, Amy Ziettlow, and Charles E. Stokes emphasize ...
Faith and Family (After Divorce)
A new report from the Institute for American Values explores the complicated ways in which a child's family structure, particularly the experience of parents' divorce, can affect his or her religious practices as an adult. Coauthors Elizabeth Marquardt, Amy Ziettlow, and Charles E. Stokes emphasize ...