“Divorces are typically initiated by women… [with] nearly 70% of breakups of heterosexual marriages… initiated by the wife.” Regan Arntz-Gray Inst. Family Studies
ifstudies.org/blog/these-boo…

James Surowiecki The Wall Street Journal: 'The number of births last year was the lowest since 1979, according to provisional data. About 3.59 million children were born in the U.S. in 2023, a 2% drop compared with 3.66 million in 2022.' wsj.com/us-news/americ…

🚨BREAKING The Wall Street Journal: US fertility rate falls to record low:🚨 'The total fertility rate fell to 1.62 births per woman in 2023, a 2% decline from a year earlier. It is the lowest rate recorded since the government began tracking' the total fertility rate. wsj.com/us-news/americ…

🚨BREAKING The Wall Street Journal: US fertility rate falls to record low:🚨 'The total fertility rate fell to 1.62 births per woman in 2023, a 2% decline from a year earlier. It is the lowest rate recorded since the government began tracking' the total fertility rate. wsj.com/us-news/americ…

Ok it's interesting that 7% of parents over 45 wouldn't have kids if given a redo on life, but it’s also wild that fully 50% of childless people would have kids if given a do-over. Need to profile the 3% of childless folks who say they'd have 6+ kids if given the chance 😂.

“The Harvard anthropologist Joseph Henrich has observed that 'marriage represents the keystone institution for most—though not all— societies and may be the most primeval of human institutions.'” amazon.com/Get-Married-Am…

New paper from Norway: Banning smartphones in school

- significantly decreased doctors visits for psychological symptoms and diseases among girls
- reduced bullying among both genders
- improved girls’ GPA and attendance rates
- largest effect sizes were among the poorest kids

My hypothesis: it's a rebellion against a decade of fat-acceptance messaging (which rings hollow to anyone with half a brain); it's a high-agency act in a low-agency doomscrolly world; we crave a return to the physical amid the screen-mediated performative culture we've wrought

“The ‘family wage,’ where a salary in most jobs was enough to support a family, is no more. Today many families must keep two people in workforce just to attain the basics of a middle-class family life, minimally a house and car.” Rosemary L. Hopcroft
ifstudies.org/blog/why-shoul… Inst. Family Studies

When I was a graduate student in sociology at the University of Washington, my advisor, a brilliant man named Pierre van den Berghe, once noted “the capitalists have won, they now get two for the price of one.” Rosemary L. Hopcroft
ifstudies.org/blog/why-shoul… Inst. Family Studies

The biggest divide in coursework rigor isn’t between STEM and humanities it’s between all traditional liberal arts fields and the new education / business / social work / health fields.

slowboring.com/p/college-stud…

Of Note: Are Family and Faith Staging a Comeback? wsj.com/articles/are-f… via Wall Street Journal Opinion
Brad Wilcox Chris Bullivant

“Full time” college students spend less than three hours per day in class or doing homework.

A downstream consequence of the marketization of higher education — the customers are getting what they want and what they want is easy classes.

slowboring.com/p/college-stud…

“When mothers and fathers share a deep romantic love, are affectionate with one another in front of their children, and respect and admire one another, this models the beauty of lasting romantic love.” Erica Komisar, LCSW ifstudies.org/blog/confronti…

This chart from The Economist (2021) shows there is no correlation between affordability of childcare and a country’s total fertility rate. Luxembourg has the ‘best’ childcare system but very low TFR (1.31). Israel has a less generous model but highest TFR in developed world. 2/5

Are Family and Faith Staging a Comeback? wsj.com/articles/are-f… via Wall Street Journal Opinion

The “rise of what the Chinese call ‘bare branches’ — individuals who do not marry and do not have children — is a big reason why deaths of despair have surged and happiness has fallen.”

Is the “youth mental health crisis—topic of much theorizing—due not to phones, or COVID…” but “because kids are growing up in small families & so never learn a sense of duty, responsibility & belonging” not to mention insufficient time w/ babies? @slate slate.com/human-interest…

Young men who women choose to marry and stay married to still earn a lot more (about twice as much) than never-married or divorced men, and this has changed very little since 1970. buff.ly/4d8SUDe

In 2022, there were 4.2 marriages for every 1 000 people in the EU.💍👰

Highest rates in:
🇭🇺Hungary (6.6 marriages per 1 000 people)
🇱🇻Latvia (6.3)
🇷🇴Romania (6.2)

Lowest:
🇸🇮Slovenia and 🇮🇹Italy (both 3.2)
🇵🇹Portugal (3.5)

What about your country❓👉 europa.eu/!vXJbFT