Editor’s Commentary on Arrangement

This source list is grouped into two parts. In the first, the sources aim to remind the reader of the value of strong families and to alert them to the potential consequences of families breaking apart. The first two sources in this section discuss how family life can positively or negatively affect children’s intellectual development from a young age. The last two help draw the correlation between violent crime and broken families. The second part of this source list intends to explain to the reader some of the possible elements involved in family breakdown.

 

The value of strong families and the potential consequences when they break apart:

 

“SES Differences in Language Processing Skill and Vocabulary Are Evident at Eighteen Months”

“The most important findings were that significant disparities in vocabulary and language processing efficiency were already evident at 18 months between infants from higher- and lower-SES families, and by 24 months there was a six-month gap between socioeconomic status groups in processing skills critical to language development.” Sample size: 48. The study acknowledges that natural differences exist in language processing from an early age, but the main idea is that there are also differences based on the SES of the family the child is raised in.  “Differences in socioeconomic status (SES) are strongly associated with variation in language outcomes. By the time they enter kindergarten, children from disadvantaged backgrounds differ substantially from their more advantaged peers in verbal and other cognitive abilities (Ramey & Ramey, 2004), disparities that are predictive of later academic success or failure (Lee & Burkum, 2002).” To help distinguish how much of this variance is based on nature vs nurture, it would be interesting to see a follow-up study based on identical twins, where one is raised in a low SES family and another raised in a high SES family.

Summary: There is a strong correlation between a child’s family’s socio-economic status and the child’s language processing skills that is evident as early as 24 months.

Fernald, A., Marchman, V. A., & Weisleder, A. (2013). SES differences in language processing skill and vocabulary are evident at 18 months. Developmental Science, 16(2), 234–248. http://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12019

 

The power of family? Change in academic achievement after breakdown of the biological family.

This study included 88,000 students, 5% of which experienced a breakdown in their biological family sometime between 6th and 8th grade. Researchers recorded school performance before and after there was a family breakdown and after accounting for extraneous variables like quality of school, they found that indeed a breakdown in the family does generally have an immediate as well as prolonged negative effect on school performance.

Keller, T. (2016). The power of family? Change in academic achievement after breakdown of the biological family. Journal Of Divorce & Remarriage, 57(7), 448-474. doi:10.1080/10502556.2016.1220284

 

The Real Root Causes of Violent Crime: The Breakdown of Marriage, Family, and Community – Patrick F. Fagan, Ph.D.

Dr. Fagan uses a mix of hard data and rhetoric to make a compelling argument for reform in public policy as well as a call to each individual to strengthen their own family, community, and marriage. The most interesting quote from this source comes in Dr. Fagan’s closing statements.

“Furthermore, America is headed toward a 50 percent out-of-wedlock birthrate sometime in the next twelve to twenty years, inching more and more of the country closer to today’s inner-city illegitimacy rate. If this trend is not reversed, Americans must prepare for extensive and serious erosion of public safety and practical freedoms.”

Dr. Fagan wrote this essay in 1995 and made a prediction that the United States would hit a 50-percent illegitimacy rate in 12 to 20 years. At the time that he made that prediction, the illegitimacy rate was steadily increasing and linear regression would have predicted Dr. Fagan would have been correct. The national illegitimacy rate is currently hovering around 41-percent. That’s up from 1995’s approx. 32.5-percent, but far from the 50-percent prediction. I want to know what helped slow the rate of growth of the illegitimacy rate. The illegitimacy rate growth was nominal before around 1960 then took off for 35 years and then around 1995 it was reduced to about half the rate of growth of the 1960-1995 period.

Fagan, P. F., Ph.D. (1995, March 17). The Real Root Causes of Violent Crime: The Breakdown of Marriage, Family, and Community. Retrieved March 22, 2017, from http://origin.heritage.org/research/reports/1995/03/bg1026nbsp-the-real-root-causes-of-violent-crime

 

Breakdown of the American Family clip

The most interesting thing about this clip is that it belongs to a much longer documentary about the impact of violence on children. The creators of this documentary obviously thought that violence on children and family breakdown were linked.

“Experts assert that the family is the most important institution in a child’s life, yet children at all economic levels feel the consequences of the breakdown of the American family.”

The clip was added to the website in 2014 but the documentary was created in 1995. Even 20 years ago there was a problem with family breakdown and it has only gotten worse. The University of Notre Dame produced the clip. As far as I know, Notre Dame is a well-respected institution.

 

The impact of violence on children [Video file]. (1995). Retrieved March 12, 2017, from https://fod-infobase-com.librarylink.uncc.edu/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=149262&xtid=5931

 

Why families break apart and why a growing percentage of children are being born illegitimately:

Perceived Causes of Marriage Breakdown and Conditions of Life – Ailsa Burns

This source is interesting because it provides a glimpse into why divorced individuals think they got divorced. It is also interesting because in many instances, there is a substantial difference between the sexes. For further research, I will see if there is anything in the study that could support a course of action or policy that would help to prevent marriage breakdown.

Burns, A. (1984). Perceived Causes of Marriage Breakdown and Conditions of Life. Journal of Marriage and Family, 46(3), 551-562. doi:10.2307/352597

 

Pornography – Does it pose a public health crisis?

Honestly one of the most surprising things is the objectivity of this article. I’m used to reading mainstream news reports that skew everything to fit one narrative or another.

This article was published on October 21, 2016.

The author, Sarah Glazer “is a London-based freelancer who contributes regularly to CQ Researcher. Her articles on health, education and social-policy issues also have appeared in The New York Times and The Washington Post. Her recent CQ Researcher reports include “Privacy and the Internet” and “Decriminalizing Prostitution” She graduated from the University of Chicago with a B.A. in American history.”

This source does refer to other sources. In fact, there are over 80 linked sources from this one article. An interesting point about this website is that they will post other related article alongside the main article so that viewers can gain a better perspective. I also appreciated the pro/con section.

In my paper I plan to cover the impact of the sexual revolution on the family. I would guess porn becoming more accepted in society is a result of the sexual revolution. One of the best parts of this source is that it focuses on a Utah law. This change in public policy could possibly be one the answers to my central inquiry question, how can we curb or reverse the breakdown of the family in the United States.

Glazer, S. (2016, October 21). Pornography – Does it pose a public health crisis? CQ Researcher, Volume 26, Issue 37. http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2016102100&type=hitlist&num=5

 

“Doing Better but Feeling Worse: The Paradox of Choice”

This writing challenges the idea that more choices lead to a happier result. Often times have our choices restricted makes us more likely to make the best out of them and in the end happier. Turkle relates this to romantic relationships. From my own experience I can confirm that Schwartz may be correct with this idea.

Summary: Schwartz challenges the reader to consider the idea that a restricted number of choices makes us happier and more satisfied than a multitude of choices.

Schwartz, B., & Ward, A. (n.d.). Doing Better but Feeling Worse: The Paradox of Choice. Retrieved February 27, 2017, from https://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/bschwar1/Choice%20Chapter.Revised.pdf

 

“Deception Was My Job” – Yuri Bezmenoz

“Psychological Warfare Subversion & Control of Western Society” – Yuri Bezmenoz

What if the breakdown of American families was being promoted by nefarious foreign powers? Such an idea is not out of the realm of possibilities. Yuri Bezmenov worked for the USSR’s intelligence organization, KGB, for several years in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Eventually after becoming disillusioned, he defected to the United States where he was debriefed by the CIA for months. After being found no threat to the US, he was allowed to enter American society. He gave several lectures and interviews about his time with the KGB. One of those interviews and one of those lectures is listed above. Bezmenov explains how much of the work of the KGB was to destabilize other countries from the inside. One way they would do this is to promote troublesome groups, ideologies, and general weaknesses already existing in the target country. To be clear, the United States has done the same thing in multiple Central American countries. Perhaps one part of the answer to reducing the breakdown of the American family is to do more to prevent psychological warfare.

Bezmenoz, Y. (1984). Deception Was My Job [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3qkf3bajd4&t=6s

Bezmenoz, Y. (1983). Psychological Warfare Subversion & Control of Western Society [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gnpCqsXE8g

 

“Engineering the Public: Big Data, Surveillance, and Computational Politics” – Zeynep Tufecki

I picked the above source from the book because as a computer science major and political science minor, anything that merges the two together piques my interest. It also called to mind the following two sources that I watched several months ago. Modern technology allows for the same old tricks to be applied in ever changing scenarios and we must be knowledgeable enough to prevent any negative reactions.

Tufekci, Z. (2014). Engineering the public: Big data, surveillance and computational politics. First Monday, 19(7). doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.5210/fm.v19i7.4901