Friday, May 31, 2013

The M.Guy Tweet, Week of May 19, 2013

1. Small Acts, Big Love, The Wall Street Journal
"It's not just making people feel good," says Harry T. Reis, a University of Rochester professor of psychology. "It's a way of communicating to the other person that you understand what they are all about and that you appreciate and care for them."

2. The Connection Between Unemployment and Unmarried Parents, The Atlantic
From 57 percent unmarried among those who didn't finish high school to just nine percent among those who have graduated college.

3. Recession Dragged Down Birth Rates for Less-educated Women, Los Angeles Times
Between 2008 and 2011, birthrates fell 13% among women who hadn’t finished high school – nearly twice as much as for women who had earned bachelor’s degrees or more, Pew found.

4. How to Tell if a Couple Will Get Divorced, The Australian News
[T]hey noticed that there were four behaviours in particular that could predict which couples would divorce down the line. With 93 per cent accuracy. . . Contempt. . . Criticism. . . Defensiveness. . . and Stonewalling. . .

5. The Feminist, Pro-Father, and Pro-Child Case against No-Fault Divorce, The Witherspoon Institute
Yet twenty-seven years later, even Friedan admitted, “I think we made a mistake with no fault divorce,” recognizing that no-fault divorce had led to “unintended consequences” that adversely affected women.

6. Study Proves Impact of Prayer on Relationships, Charisma News
Praying for a romantic partner or close friend can lead to more cooperative and forgiving behavior toward the partner, according to a new study co-authored by a Florida State University (FSU) researcher.

7. Keynote Presentation 3, The International Commission on Couple and Family Relations
Carolyn and Phil Cowan will describe an approach to strengthening couple and parent-child relationships by working with parents as couples.

For more, see here.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

The M.Guy Tweet, Week of May 5, 2013

1. Single Motherhood in U.S. Increases Sharply, The Washington Post
More than six out of 10 women who give birth in their early 20s are unmarried, the Census Bureau said Wednesday in a report that shows sharp discrepancies in single mothers related to income, education and race.

2. Internet Strengthens Institution of Marriage, The Wall Street Journal
New research that says thanks to the Internet, marriage rates among young people, which have been declining for years, are 15% to 30% higher than they would be without the Web.

3. Is the Way We Divorce in America About to Change, The Huffington Post
[A]ll couples would take be required to complete courses on improving their communication skills and conflict resolution. Those with minor children would also be expected to take a four-hour class on the impact of divorce on children. . . Statutory protection for victims of domestic violence would remain untouched. 

4. Young Adults in the Parental Home and the Great Recession, The National Center for Family and Marriage Research
Young adults living independently enjoyed lower unemployment rates (pre- and post-recession) than their coresiding peers regardless of age or sex. . . Young adults living independently had 91% higher median earnings in 2011 than their peers living in a parent's home ($24,000 vs. $9,000, not shown).

5. Married Couples Need the Right Tools to Stay Happily Married, The Standard Examiner
Marriage education is a class with larger groups of participants, whereas marital therapy is typically done with the couple and a therapist. Marriage and relationship education teaches skills like healthy communication, conflict resolution, understanding expectations/roles, and strategies to maintain higher levels of commitment.

6. Why Unemployment Doesn't Stop People From Having Babies, The Atlantic
"We all want to leave behind a legacy - it's part of our duty as a species. But in our post industrial society, we now have two choices for that. Create progeny or create something (tangible or intangible) that will last beyond one's lifetime - whether that's art, fiction, science, engineering, technology, any form of manipulating land, etc. The luckiest people find a way to do both." [From the "Comments" section].

7. Rising Trend of Births Outside Marriage, Population Reference Bureau
There are eight EU member countries where half or more of births are nonmarital: Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, France, Iceland, Slovenia, Norway, and Sweden.

For more, see here.