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August 2, 2014 12:00 pm
NC Family president John Rustin talks with Dr. Patrick Fagan, Director of the Marriage and Religion Research Institute (MARRI) at the Family Research Council in Washington, DC, about the new “Annual Report on Family Trends,” which examines the current state of the American family based on its behavior in five of society’s most important institutions.
This is family policy matter program is produced by the North Carolina family policy Council of profamily research and education organization dedicated to strengthening and preserving the family and now from the studio. Here's John Rushton, president of the North Carolina family policy Council, thank you for joining us this week. Profamily policy matters. It is our pleasure to have Dr. Pat Fagan back with us on the program. Dr. Fagan is director of the marriage and religion research Institute at the family research Council formally served for 13 years as a senior fellow at the Heritage foundation marriage and religion research Institute just released its annual report on family trends and we are to be talking with Dr. Fagan about this report, which examines the current state of the American family based on its behavior in five of society's most important institutions. Dr. Fagan thanks so much for joining us again on family policy matters from well thank you not tell us about the annual report on family trends. What is the purpose of this report and what is it intended to measure how it over 250 chart multiple trendlines in it. Contracting a picture of what has been happening the American family and Americans in their social behaviors over the last little from 50 years that was only 20 years with federal far back we could get the data and leave about five years ago and we brought it up to date and extended it quite a bit now. I think it would be most comprehensive resource on the web that I'm aware of these issues were people who go to one place. Capital will vary get another report examines the health of the family based on five societal institutions, the family, the church school the marketplace and the government explain force if you will. While the report focuses on these five institutions or areas. When examining the health of the American family. While the five big could life for the five big paths that every guy has to pull off family site is going to keep a good thing. Major building block of cult of the major thing that most of us dedicate our life we go to work, sure, but working to bring the money home to feed the others at home.
The family church by church that I been in its broadest belief that people have, how they orient themselves to God or if they don't believe in God, how they orient themselves to what they think is good through school as a whole.
Task of education, learning and passing it on the marketplace were coming, but exchange of goods and services marketplace review all material good of society and the government.
How we conduct ourselves as it's really our relationship to the comments to to the government of society for the good of all Phi Beta Kappa, all of the particular and society is blessed doing pretty well in all of the benefit, not of blood but going down has an entire section devoted to the health of the family, looking particularly at family structure, and whether families are operating is intact families or families that are not intact. Tell us about this finding, and what the report shows regarding family structure in the United States a large amount of data devoted to that will probably close to 5060 70 different chart that overall no surprise to anybody, family structure, changing the intact market family has been diminishing you look at the family, to get there in an intact family to be changing that much, but that when you look at this is funny when you do these things are interesting how the data could look different, but if you didn't take a read of our kids that age 17. Doing like towards the end of their living at home before they get to leave home there.
It's only about 46% of our children reach age 17 in an intact family were mom and dad are together still their biological father, mother, all living together. The family look at how all kids of the United States.
How many of them are in an intact family you got there around 70%. That includes one-year-old euros and three-year-old number those pork parents divorced before the retreat. That's how it dropped down to 46% so we look at all that what's been happening in March. What's been happening in divorce and cohabitation out of wedlock birth all those different things are tracked in the family structure section of the report and not really an alarming key finding in the report is out of wedlock birth rate in the United States continues to increase. Tell us about this finding, and describe, if you will the consequences of a continued increase in out of wedlock births in the United States. All other wedlock births that are not married, and the likelihood of their getting.
It is much less about 1/4 of cohabiting couples end up married 10 years later, but I give it more than that there's a very significant drop off from little cohabit to those are going to be married 10 years later that been born out of wedlock is a very risky thing for most American children that is actually from you look 20 years ago around 28% down to 42 so huge and if you take the first child of the woman with first birds are now approaching 50%, almost half of first birds are outside of marriage, birds, and that is a real weakening of society and of the social fabric because children quickly and summing up the social science research. Children are as strong as the marriage between their one of the good reflection of by strong again their capacity to work to get through school to be happy day out of trouble. Have a good friend that go on to get married, have the capacity to go on to get married close general strike card very significantly diminished by other wedlock births families fractured parents.now.click in section 3 of the report focuses on abortion in the United States, changes heavily experienced in the abortion rate since the 1970s and what other findings related to abortion. Would you highlight for list the good that the number of abortion is dropping steadily from the high point between 1980 and 1990 sure numbers, reaching over all, about 1.6 billion, and now it has dropped down to about 1.2 so there's almost you know, 400,000 abortions left every year over the last 20 years or so. That's the big trend well.
It's also been very encouraging for us to see just generally that the support for life in the sight of life seems to be continuing to grow in our culture and that I think is flexion on the transit we've seen and so were encouraged for what that means for the future of life in our country are some of the key findings from the report related to marriage and divorce in the United States and we been talking about single-parent families in different family structures. But as far as is families that are staying together and the overall health of marriage in the United States in general what you take from the report with respect to that overall marriage is going down significantly from about the mid 80s to the present. There's been drop off per year from about 2 1/2 million marriages down to a little over two.
A drop of almost 1/2 million marriages in the population each year.
Now infinitely within that among high income people. Marriage intact to the marriage rate is actually increasing. It has talked about before that almost disappeared among the poorest and about what we call the working class there.
There cohabitation is taking over and cohabitation is fragile and a lot of the breakup. Many people want to be married later.
But marriage is appearing a lot. Our poor and just above poverty groups.
You don't hear the educated, high income people speaking out and getting leadership on what they are increasingly wanting and getting and ensuring their children grow towards the not were promulgating the same benefits to the poor so that was a bit of a contract, but let's hope that the more educated to begin to speak up and say it is better for the port but that's the big picture by Charles Murray blue. The ground was really highlighted different than he called picking apart that you know are educated people are breaking away the whole structure that is breaking away from what report will I will surely need to be encouraging marriage and in all segments of our culture. We started out talking about this report income of a bigger picture perspective, and you spoke in terms of the five big tasks that we have is a society that incorporate things like the economy and government explain the sum but explained more for us. If you will about how the health of the American family and in particular the condition of marriage impacts the well-being of all areas of society including the economy, government, etc. the family felt microcosm of large within every family you have the five task five of the family itself clearly government parents getting together having order the family through the kids do the right thing, government, education most foundational action most important education takes place in a child before it meets all prekindergarten and a good foundations are laid down, thereby protecting the family income and working of the economy is first learned in the family Q bloodwork and dad working and they have their chores about hold aspect of responsibility have been the government. We talked about that with the law-abiding church learning values learning tomorrow's learning model principles thinking about the big questions of existence. What happens after life and death is the creator all that work goes on in the family and the family goes, so goes that's why it's contact us of the family key because when the buyer to break apart all of those institution all of those tasks per week.
The next generation is more likely those are more likely to break apart as a drop off in religion intended.
There's less education performed. More crime, more things going wrong and there's less income. There's nothing every institution is affected also in groups like family policy Council and the family research Council and others across the nation speak in terms of marriage really being the building block of our society were not speaking of that in abstract terms, but the well-being of the family and strength of the family has repercussions for our entire culture. Would you agree with that. Oh sure, that's what you and I have dedicated our lives to make this clear to people, reminding people that the rest of the autonomous. Like the spirit of the age pushing the other direction, pushing us apart. I'd call it that we end up rejecting each other in the intimate setting.
Family breaking apart painful weakening for the children so the work you're doing at the North Carolina family policy Council is great because you tried to make the case likely to belong to each other. At times it's tough, but it's well worth it in the end, it's well worth it for us to be happier. We know we do the right thing.
So much happier when Mam and dad belong they could belong with mom and dad that like the way it's meant to be. Everybody is better off well in this report annual report on the family trends that you have published is such a great resource to display in statistical and other times why exactly that is the case, and so I do want to take a moment and just have you if you would again repeat the website where our listeners can go and avail themselves of this great report and the valuable information that you have their gives that website you cannot be super sure Mary and a double or provide research to Mary.US thing and it's always a pleasure to have you with us on family policy matters.
We thank you so much for your time and your continued good work at the family research Council and for all that you do. Thanks again so much for being with us today to work on their's family policy matters is information and analysis, future North Carolina family policy Council join us with a discussion on policy issues affecting the family. If you have questions or comments.
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