The Natural Family by Allan C. Carlson

Author:Allan C. Carlson [Carlson, Allan C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Family & Relationships, General, Social Science, Social Work, Sociology, Marriage & Family
ISBN: 9781412808491
Google: QmFDnwEACAAJ
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
Published: 2008-07-15T04:16:51+00:00

6

Gifts of the Natural Family

MARRIAGE AND MARITAL PARENTING provide incomparable gifts to all human societies. Again, we turn to statements found in the manifesto and to the scientific evidence supporting these ideals and truths.

Married, natural-parent homes bring health, . . .

“Marriage,” an American Academy of Pediatrics task force explains, “is beneficial in many ways,” in large part because “people behave differently when they are married. They have healthier lifestyles, eat better, and monitor each other’s health.” National health data also indicate that children of married parents enjoy significantly better health than do children of divorced parents. The same data set shows that “marital status is related to the health status of all the family members, including both parents and children.” Writing from another perspective, a University of Maryland medical researcher blames parental divorce for causing or exacerbating various chronic diseases—including cardiac disease—among children. In addition, economic and medical data indicate that the upsurge in the number of single-parent, female-headed households has pushed an alarming number of children into both poverty and ill health. The poverty that is associated with “the loss of the wage-earning power of the absent parent, usually the father,” predicts “higher rates of poor health and chronic health conditions in children,” resulting in higher hospitalization and mortality rates among affected children. Finally, a team of Harvard epidemiologists identifies the distinctively high incidence of both physical and mental illness among the children of divorced and never-married parents as the reason that these children require pediatric and psychiatric services significantly more often than do children of married parents.1

. . . learning, . . .

The intact home is best predictor of true learning. In academic data collected from 349 young adolescents, researchers found that family structure is superior to any competing theoretical perspective in explaining children’s academic achievement. Children in intact families consistently earn higher grades and engage in problem behavior less often than peers in single-parent or step-families. An Ohio State sociologist adduces evidence that “family structural effects” account for much of the “quite substantial” gaps in academic performance separating minority students from white peers. Because “living with both natural parents is positively associated with academic performance” for all ethnic groups and because fewer minority children than white children live with both natural parents, almost one-third of the black-white differential in math achievement and two-fifths of the black-white differential in reading achievement can be traced to differences in family structure. Allowance for the same factor actually shrinks the Hispanic-white gap in reading achievement to statistical insignificance. In data collected for the 1994 through 1999 versions of the British Household Panel Study, a strong linkage emerged between educational achievement and family structure. Compared to peers from other types of households, adolescents who grew up in households with both biological parents were more than twice as likely at age sixteen to achieve five passing marks on the General Certificate of Secondary Education and at age nineteen to achieve two A-level passes for their academic performance.2

. . . and success to the offspring reared therein.

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