Christian Counseling Connection
15
NEWS & NOTES
For the Record:
The Foster Report
Gary D. Foster, B.A.
These trends, facts, and emerging realities are influencing you and your clients’ world today!
LONGER HOURS
Americans are now putting in longer work weeks than ever, yet most still think they
have a good work-life balance. A Rasmussen Reports
™
survey finds only 31% of em-
ployed Americans work 40 hours a week, 40% more than 40, including 9% who work
more than 50. Twenty-eight percent work fewer than 40 with 10% fewer than 20.
(
Ras-
mussen Reports
12/13/13)
PRAYER HELPS PEOPLE
stay in control of their emotions and behavior, finds a new
Saarland University and the University of Mannheim (Germany) study. Those who pray
when their lives become demanding find themselves better able to cope with temptation
and control their emotions.
(
Church Leaders
12/6/13)
SEX-SATURATED CULTURE
New research from psychologist, Catherine Steiner-Adair, finds teens are turning to In-
ternet videos to educate themselves on sexuality, dating and gender stereotypes. Societal
norms around sex and dating (especially among teens) have changed dramatically in the
last few years, and most of the change can be chalked up to a “sex-saturated culture”
and the technology used to propagate it. Without parents monitoring their children’s
online viewing, Internet access provides them with content that can be confusing,
including pornography or other graphic images that can create a false understanding
of appropriate sexual behavior. This encourages teens, in particular, to behave in a way
online they never would face-to-face.
(
The Big Disconnect: Protecting Childhood and Family Relationships
in the Digital Age
by Catherine Steiner-Adair, Harper 2013)
RETIREMENT
no longer represents a complete exit from the workforce. The aver-
age age of those who report retiring before The Great Recession (2007-2009) was 57,
while the average for those who retired afterward is 62. The line between working and
retirement is shifting, with 82% of Americans 50 and older who are working, but not
yet retired, saying it is likely or very likely they will do some work for pay during their
retirement. Of those who are currently working, 47% now plan to retire at a later age
than they expected when they were 40.
(
Center for Media Research Brief
12/2/13)
SUCCESS GUARANTEE
Children raised by both a mom and dad are more likely to go to college and make more
money than those raised by unwed and divorced parents, and the impact is greater
among the poor according to a recent American Enterprise Institute panel discussion.
Unwed childbearing is now the new norm for U.S. women under the age of 30. There is
also a growing class divide with low income individuals having more children out-of-
wedlock than those with high incomes. Thomas B. Fordham Institute’s Mike Petrilli said
if students follow the “success sequence”: 1) get a high school diploma; 2) get a job; 3)
get married; and 4) have babies (in that order), they are “almost guaranteed to not be
poor” and their children will not be poor.
(
Christian Post
10/31/13)
MOST MEANINGFUL ACTIVITY
Sixty-two percent of U.S. parents find caring for children to be the most meaningful ac-
tivity in their lives, reports a new Pew Research Center analysis. Just 32% reported the
same feeling about paid work. Only leisure activity narrowly edged out childcare (41%
to 35%). Also, childcare is “very tiring” 12% of the time… twice as tiring as housework
(7%) and paid work (5%).
(
LifeSite News
10/25/13)
R-RATED MOVIES DAMAGING TO FAITH
Young people who watch R-rated movies are more likely to have decreased church
attendance and to consider their faith less important, finds a recent Baylor University
study. “Viewing R-rated movies was damaging to religious faith even after accounting
for the importance of religion in one’s family, peer influence and parental monitoring
of media, among other factors,” said researcher, Phil Davignon. However, watching
the movies did not affect whether or not young people have doubts about their faith or
whether they thought it was acceptable to choose parts of the faith to believe without
accepting the whole.
(
Review of Religious Research
6/13)
CHILDREN AND TV
According to the
Sourcebook for Teaching Science
, the average American youth watches
about 1,500 hours of TV in a year, but spends only 900 hours in school during that
same time period. Seventy percent of daycare centers use TV on a typical day. Fifty-four
percent of 4 to 6-year-olds said they preferred watching TV to spending time with their
fathers.
(
Sourcebook for Teaching Science
)
FAST FACTS:
•
Forty-two percent of U.S. pastors say they wish they had spent more time with
their kids
•
Over 300 million people in the world are considered charismatic Christians (14%
of all self-identified Christians)
•
Seventy-three percent of U.S. practicing Christians want to stay informed of culture
and trends, the same as the national average
•
In 2012, abortions made up 93.8% of Planned Parenthood’s pregnancy services
•
Those who grow up in married-parent families are 82% less likely to live in poverty
•
A quarter of Americans who get divorced are 50 or older
•
Seventy-five percent of teen sexual violence occurs in the context of a boyfriend-
girlfriend relationship
•
Nearly one in 10 Americans 21 or younger reported perpetrating some type of
coercive or forced sexual violence at least once during his or her lifetime
•
One in 691 babies is born with Down syndrome and one in 88 with autism
•
Seven percent of children ages three to 17 are diagnosed with ADHD, 8% have a
learning disability, and 14% have a developmental disability
•
Thirty-eight percent of American adults say they drink alcoholic beverages at least
once a week
•
Thirty-six percent of American adults say they rarely or never drink alcohol, up
from 29% in 2010
•
Fifty-one percent of all U.S. adults believe there is a connection between watching a
violent movie and violent behavior
•
In 2012, 2.2 million U.S. college students sought professional counseling
•
Eighty-eight percent of college counseling center directors report seeing a steady
increase in the number of students with severe psychological problems and 87%
believe there has been a steady increase in the number of students already on psy-
chiatric medications
This information has been compiled and edited by
Gary Foster,
President of Gary D. Foster Consulting. Contact him at 419-238-4082
or
or visit
.
