APA study and trends

            

            Society is so fragile. Sometimes I don’t think we understand. Ronald Reagan once stated that “Freedom is never more than one generation from extinction.” If this is the case, shouldn’t we as citizens of our country be careful of how our children are raised? The future of freedom is passed from one generation to another. If a generation lets those freedoms fail, it isn’t their fault but rather their parents. If they don’t hold standards and beliefs that their parents held, there is a reason for that.

How then should we care for the children of our day? Families of the 21^st century are consistently weak or even broken. Studies have proved that children in single parent, drug-abuse, or other problematic homes are at an automatic disadvantage. The family unit is the primary and basic unit of society. It should be our primary concern to make sure that unit is protected and cared for.

Many bring up the point that kids are very resilient and can recover from the hardest circumstances. The APA brief is one study that is often quoted when talking about the resilience of children. The problem with this as well as many other studies is that people don’t look at the research themselves. This is the case in health, product sales, and every other study. It is simply because of laziness that people don’t look into things themselves. The APA study is full of flaws. Many of the studies don’t have a comparison group and are primarily focused of lesbian white mothers who are financially well off. Not only are gay men not represented in this study but also other ethnicity. The Majority of these studies also are based from convenience sampling which only pulls a certain type out of society instead of the whole. It’s like asking customers to a business to take a poll to see if they’re satisfied with their care. More than likely, people will only report if they are mad or upset. According to the poll, this would show that the vast majority of people are upset with the company.

Another flaw in the APA study is that there is simply not a comparison group in the majority of the studies. If there isn’t anything for them to measure their group against, then how do they know the group is better off than anything else? This is basic fundamentals of statistics and yet this well-known and quoted research failed it extensively. 

Another subject I wish to touch on is the trends of today. There are certain trends today that have not only been accepted by society but encouraged when it comes to family life. Living alone, depression, sexual intimacy before marriage, cohabitation, marriage at older ages, and out of wed-lock births are all significantly different from just 10 years ago. These actions have consequences that greatly influence society in general. There are reasons for this however. People adapt and change according to what they see to be the most beneficial to them. It is difficult to be critical of someone when they are just trying to take care of their own personal interests for self-preservation. It is understandable but not recommended.

There are many who would disagree or agree of the downfalls of these trends. Instead of focusing on the trends however, I believe it is more important to understand where these trends are coming from instead. There has been a peak of fear and selfishness in recent years. Why? It is self-preservation. Society has been taught for years that they are alone in the world. They are to fend for themselves. Why be tied down to a wife or husband when you can be happy without them? Why would someone take such risks financially or emotionally only for the notion of love? Logically it makes little sense.

Though self-preservation trends have been set, this isn’t the best way to go through life. History has proved that happier and more successful people are those who serve, love, and care for other people. Selfish people become more bitter and fend only for themselves simply because no-one else will. This may sound cliché but yet our society still lacks so greatly in these areas.