Are Family Values Declining?
The decline of the American family has been a popular theme in recent years. Evidence of stress in the family is not hard to find. But can we blame this stress directly on the family, or is it the natural reaction to a stressed American society? According to the Census Bureau, the U.S. divorce rate has more than doubled since the 1960s. The number of households headed by single or divorced women has increased by 46 percent since 1980. In 1977 almost 18 million children were living in single-parent homes in the United States. Today that number has experienced a 100 percent increase. Based on these numbers, it stands to reason, based on these numbers, that a large percentage of the infants born in the country today are destined to spend at least part of their childhoods with only one parent. One of the most disturbing signs of deep, underlying stress within the family is evidence of violent confrontations among family members. In any one year, according to D.V.I.S. statistics, approximat
