Changes in family structure jeopardize child's moral code

QUESTION: Why do you think kids are more sexually active today than when I was young? Lust is certainly not new. What is causing this generation to be so promiscuous?

DR. DOBSON: There are many factors that have brought on the epidemic we’re seeing, not the least of which is the trash that is beamed to teenagers on television, in movies and from the rock music industry. Young people today are bombarded by immoral entertainment that models promiscuous behavior and teaches them that “everyone is doing it.” The diminishing influence of traditional Christian teaching is also responsible for the changing mores of our kids.

There is another extremely important consideration that has been identified recently by behavioral research. A team of researchers from the Oregon Social Learning Center found that parental divorce plays a direct role in fostering sexual experimentation among adolescents.

The investigators tracked the behavior of 201 junior high and high school boys who lived in “higher crime areas.” They found that the boys who had sexual intercourse at an early age tended to be those who had experienced two or more “parental transitions” (divorce, remarriage or repartnering). Only 18 percent of these promiscuous boys came from intact families. By contrast, 57 percent of the virgins came from homes where divorce had not occurred. On average, these abstinent boys had experienced less than one parental transition.

A similar study was conducted on young women by sociologist Lawrence L. Wu of the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He studied 2,441 white women and 1,275 black women, and found that there was a strong correlation between those who bore babies out of wedlock and those who had been through a “change in family structure” when growing up. Wu concluded that the stresses of divorce and remarriage on children are directly implicated in out-of-wedlock childbearing.

In study after study now, we are seeing that divorce, single-parenting and family disruption are unhealthy for children. This is not to criticize those who find themselves in those circumstances, but neither can we continue to deny that intact, two-parent families are the healthiest, and contribute directly to a stable society. If that is true (and the evidence for it is overwhelming), then our public policies and governmental agencies should favor and encourage traditional families. Anything that undermines or weakens them, such as confiscatory taxes or governmental intrusion, should be viewed with suspicion.

The future of the nation depends, quite literally, on millions of strong, committed and loving families.

Dr. Dobson is founder and chairman of the board of the nonprofit organization Focus on the Family, P.O. Box 444, Colorado Springs, CO. 80903; or www.family.org. Questions and answers are excerpted from The Complete Marriage and Family Home Reference Guide and Bringing Up Boys, both published by Tyndale House. Copyright 2006 James Dobson Inc.