Move Over First Families: Stepfamilies Are the New Game in Town

By Beverly Willett   A few days ago, Honey Maid, the maker of a wide variety of well-known graham cracker products including the honey-flavored Teddy Grahams I once served my own children, unleashed the second installment in its “This is Wholesome” campaign.[1] The campaign, which is accompanied by two videos, celebrates stepfamilies, and was scheduled to coincide […]

Is “Married At First Sight” A Recipe for Happily Ever After?

By Seth Eisenberg The new American television series “Married At First Sight” follows six people as they discover if married at first sight can last. Personally, I know love at first sight can last. A lasting, happy marriage, however, is about much more than the feelings that come up at the first sight of a potential partner for life. My […]

Note to Millennials — It’s Not All About You

By Chris Gersten “Isn’t testing a marriage, like we test a username, simply-well, logical” journalist Jessica Bennett asks in a recent article for Time entitled “The Beta Marriage: How Millennials Approach ‘I Do.’” For Bennett, the answer to this question seems obvious:  If the institution of marriage is in trouble in our country, let’s take […]

“Beta Marriage” Isn’t a Better Marriage

By Greg Griffin I’m intrigued by the recent article in Time Magazine suggesting that millennials try out a “beta marriage” model instead of marriage as we have understood it through the ages. Like many of us, millennials too see life as a series of multiple choice options, all within their control. Frankly, they also view […]

Marry First

By Julie Baumgardner Remember the rhyme, “First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in the baby carriage”? Not so anymore. Over the past decade there has been a shift in the sequence of marriage and having babies. New research indicates 57 percent of mothers between the age of 26 and 31 are unmarried when […]

An Unspoken Fact About Sex-Starved Marriages

By Michele-Weiner Davis Do (or did) you and your spouse have a sexual desire gap? If so, you are not alone. Did you know that 1 in 3 couples have completely different levels of interest in sex? But just because you aren’t alone, it doesn’t mean you should be complacent about a ho-hum sexual relationship. You shouldn’t. […]

Why the American Family is Falling Apart

By Mike McManus The American family is falling apart.  Consider two grim trends. The U.S. marriage rate has plunged 57% since 1970, according to “The State of Our Unions” for 2012.  Two-thirds of Americans over age 15 used to be married.  Now it is only 48%. The unwed birth rate was only 5% in 1960 […]

Conscious Uncoupling: Another View

By Seth Eisenberg I have to admit, I became “consciously uncoupled” long before Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin created a national conversation about the phrase. My parents became consciously uncoupled before my fourth birthday. I admit this as someone proud to consider myself among the most passionate proponents of marriage. When TIME Magazine interviewed me a few years ago about […]

Why Not Conscious Re-coupling?

I find it sad when any couple splits, especially couples with children.  I feel the same way about Gwyneth Paltrow and her soon-to-be ex-husband. When there’s some sort of abuse, it’s equally sad, but it’s also understandable when a spouse calls it quits.  That’s not the case here.  And I’m more than a bit annoyed […]

America’s Dismantling of Marriage

Earlier this month, columnist Cynthia Allen reflected on America’s on-going debate about marriage and the historical connection between marriage and economic outcomes, especially for children.  “Marriage is not a silver bullet,” she said, but she also pointed out the failure of decades-long policies in our war on poverty, suggesting that there might be something to […]