Thursday, September 08, 2016

Rumours of nuclear family demise premature

A reader brought up news headlines that recently came out of the longitudinal Dunedin study. Here's a different take on it:

Don’t Write Off The ‘Nuclear Family’


Family First is warning that recent media headlines such as “Mum, dad and the kids? Not so much ...” "nuclear family a thing of the past" and "the nuclear family has exploded" are misleading because of the shortcomings and limitations of the research that the statements are based on.

"The research comes from a very small sample of just over two hundred 15-year-olds. The study itself states that 'the sample cannot be generalised to all New Zealand children.' This is primarily because the 15 year-olds' parents were young at the time of their birth, but also because it is not a random sample of NZ teenagers," says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of family First NZ.

"The mothers' median age was just 22 and young maternal age is a known marker for increased instability of family life. The study authors state that 'young parenthood may be associated with educational and socioeconomic disadvantage'. That only 26 percent were living with two biological parents by age 15 may be an effect of this disadvantage and distinct to this sample."

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3 comments:

Redbaiter said...

I'm not so sure Bob is right about this.

My feeling is the results of the survey are probably pretty much right.

The left/ progressive faction as manifested by almost all political parties in the NZ spectrum has been working to this end for decades.

Its not unexpected that they would be seeing some pay off for their efforts.

Breaking down of the family unit is a long recognised goal of communist subversives. Their gradualisation strategies have worked well, and those forces who should be opposing them seem completely lost for a counter strategy.

In fact I'd say most of them are blissfully and naively unaware that they're helping the commies achieve their goals.

Lindsay Mitchell said...

Your "feeling" isn't rational conclusion based on evidence though is it?

It is incredibly hard to gather meaningful data about families on a large scale. We simply do not know how many children live with both biological parents (with or without other household members). Census won't tell you.

NZ has taken no interest in gathering such data.

That's where your big picture convictions hold up.

Anonymous said...

Your "feeling" isn't rational conclusion based on evidence though is it?

Sure it ls. Let's look at what our taxes are spent on: replacing families to care for children (dole dpb); replacing families caring for elders (super); stopping families loving their children by paying for their schools instead of sending them to government schools;
and stopping families loving their children and parents by paying for their healthcare instead of sending them to government hospitals.

The entire construction of "New Zealand" (as the leftist marxists would put it) is to destroy the family: and it has very nearly succeeded.

This in a world where there is actually no such thing as society: there are only individuals, and families.