Greetings and salutations.

Welcome back to Life and Books and Everything.

This is Kevin DeYoung.

Today I'm reading an article from Icon, a journal for biblical anthropology. This is the

journal that comes out from the Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. CBMW redid their journal a

couple of years ago, renamed it Icon, which is the Greek word for image.

And they've really done a nice job, Denny Burke and others who put this together.

This latest issue, Spring 2022, just came out a week or two ago.

It has a lot of articles, some more academic, some historical interviews, some more pastoral, really

well done. And I have written an article called The Power of the Two Parent Home. It's a little more

of an academic article. There's some 20 footnotes. I won't stop to give you the footnotes except for maybe one or two

that are worth reading. But here is the power of the two-parent home, a new article that I've written

for Icon. Humanly speaking, there is nothing more important for personal well-being, positive social behavior, and general success in life than being raised by one's biological parents committed to each other in a stable marriage.

Over the past 40 years, a vast body of research has demonstrated conclusively that children are deeply affected by family structure

and that married parents are best for children. Any efforts, whether governmental, educational,

or ecclesiastical, that mean to encourage human flourishing, must take this reality into account

as both an explanation for many societal ills and as a means to the end of hoped for societal health and vitality.

Not a myth. Family life in America has changed dramatically in a relatively short period of time. In 1960, 73% of children lived with two

parents in their first marriage. By 2014, less than half, 46% of children were living in this type of

family. Conversely, the percentage of children living with a single parent rose from 9% in 1960 to 26% in 2014.

An additional 7% of children now live with cohabiting parents.

Moreover, the increase in non-traditional family arrangements has coincided with the decoupling of marriage and childbearing.

...