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The biggest underlying issue is the decline of family units. No one talks about it but it’s true. You can’t function as a society when there is no immediate sup

The biggest underlying issue is the decline of family units. No one talks about it but it’s true. You can’t function as a society when there is no immediate support system left in the form of family and loved ones. We are inherently a social creature.

bparsons 4y ago
Cuba, one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere has a longer life expectancy than the US because they have universal healthcare. They also have a higher divorce rate than the US.
- agileAlligator 4y ago
  Cuban healthcare is a joke, ask anyone actually from Cuba. The numbers are mangled to make it look good.
- bbojan 4y ago
  Not disagreeing with you, but a lot of this is due to drastically lower traffic deaths, because there's very little traffic in Cuba.
- npc54321 4y ago
  Cuban healthcare is one of the biggest memes ever. And it's just that, a meme, not a reality.
spywaregorilla 4y ago
Citation needed. Does not pass a cursory glance. Meanwhile there are plenty of good stats identifying strong correlates on other factors. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_life_expectancy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ... https://statisticalatlas.com/United-States/Household-Types https://statisticalatlas.com/United-States/Household-Types
- areyousure 4y ago
  In case anyone is curious, the Spearman rank correlation coefficient between these two provided lists is ~0.32.
Terretta 4y ago
From Pew Research (2010), the decline in marriage is offset by rise in new families: The Resilience of Families. The decline of marriage has not knocked family life off its pedestal. Three-quarters of all adults (76%) say their family is the most important element of their life; 75% say they are “very satisfied” with their family life, and more than eight-in-ten say the family they live in now is as close as (45%) or closer than (40%) the family in which they grew up. However, on all of these questions, married adults give more positive responses than do unmarried adults. The Definition of Family. By emphatic margins, the public does not see marriage as the only path to family formation. Fully 86% say a single parent and child constitute a family; nearly as many (80%) say an unmarried couple living together with a child is a family; and 63% say a gay or lesbian couple raising a child is a family. The presence of children clearly matters in these definitions. If a cohabiting couple has no children, a majority of the public says they are not a family. Marriage matters, too. If a childless couple is married, 88% consider them to be a family. The Ties that Bind. In response to a question about whom they would assist with money or caregiving in a time of need, Americans express a greater sense of obligation toward relatives—including relatives by way of fractured marriages– than toward best friends. The ranking of relatives aligns in a predictable hierarchy. More survey respondents express an obligation to help out a parent (83% would feel very obligated) or grown child (77%) than say the same about a stepparent (55%) or a step or half sibling (43%). But when asked about one’s best friend, just 39% say they would feel a similar sense of obligation. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2010/11/18/the-decline-of-marriage-and-rise-of-new-families/ https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2010/11/18/the-dec...
- dangus 4y ago
  I think there's a really good argument to be made that the marriage rate was previously inflated artificially by cultural expectations and gender inequality. What kind of life could you expect to make for yourself as an unmarried woman when you didn't even have the right to open a bank account on your own? https://www.flagshipbanks.com/blog/the-history-of-women-and-banking-thanks-to-rbg https://www.flagshipbanks.com/blog/the-history-of-women-and-...
fellowniusmonk 4y ago
Family unit decline is a symptom not the underlying cause, it's a small part of the matrix of issues, it's often invoked as a means of blaming something inherently unchangeable, undefinable and unregulateable as a diversion. And everyone does talk about it, I hear about it 3 times a week and it's because it's a useful distraction and a wedge to force legislation of personal moral choice. It's like saying all problems individuals are having are caused by the individual. Somehow society, culture, governance and macro economic forces have no effect. If you think the breakdown of the family unit is the root cause, let me assure you, homeschool familes are facing the same issue in our current environment. Of course if we want to embrace absurdist reductionism the REAL problem is the dysfunction of churches abandoning their societal role for political power in the 80s, family's DO break down and now we have no "generally apolitical" relational safety net outside of the workplace, so social dysfunction can promulgate with no positive feedback loop of increased social cohesion to stop it. We need religious, areligious and apolitical societies that will facilitate mingling of social classes and are focused on the social good.
jollybean 4y ago
I think it's 'an issue' but not the major issue, except where it's 'acute'. A lot of couples are not getting married these days, which is 'something' but not like a disaster but in extremely impoverished/violeng ghetto areas you see well over 50% of kids not having any meaningful relationship with their Fathers. Now that is a 'primary' issue but it's also tied to incarceration, violence etc.. Definitely ultra violence (related to universal gun access), lack of healthcare, excessive inequality in some areas, obesity etc. are big factors. I'm not sure if the most recent post-COVID data is hugely helpful because America did 'not very well' on that one despite having vaccines available. I mean, that's a whole other level of sad. But give it 3 years to see where the data sits without the 'COVID' blip.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
throwaway743 4y ago
At a glance this reads close to "families with no father figure". You probably didn't mean the likes or to induce knee jerk reactions, but would replace "family unit decline" as being an issue of concern with "there's little to no social/gov provided safety net" for folks who need it.
- jonesjoneses 4y ago
  The father becomes the state.
- mercy_dude 4y ago
  No family is exactly what I meant. More than 1 in every 2 adult are living without a spouse and 15% adult live by themselves alone [1] [1] https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2021/families-and-living-arrangements.html https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2021/families... No government can replace the support system a family can provide.
kergonath 4y ago
Family as we know it is a historical oddity. Before the industrial revolution the social networks were much broader and involved whole communities, or much more extended families than what we consider normal now. We can introduce other social groups that help people in need and provide support and are not based primarily on family ties. This is orthogonal to “family units”, which is more of a conservative dog whistle. There are not fewer families now than there used to be, it’s just that a family is not necessarily the stereotypical married heterosexual couple with their 6 children.
sfvegandude 4y ago
Straight people should get their act together. Y’all are so stuck on an image of family that has only existed for two generations at most, and it causes you to be lonely and unable to form relationships of meaningful strength outside that image. I feel sorry for straight people.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

bparsons 4y ago

Cuba, one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere has a longer life expectancy than the US because they have universal healthcare. They also have a higher divorce rate than the US.

agileAlligator 4y ago
Cuban healthcare is a joke, ask anyone actually from Cuba. The numbers are mangled to make it look good.
bbojan 4y ago
Not disagreeing with you, but a lot of this is due to drastically lower traffic deaths, because there's very little traffic in Cuba.
npc54321 4y ago
Cuban healthcare is one of the biggest memes ever. And it's just that, a meme, not a reality.

spywaregorilla 4y ago

Citation needed. Does not pass a cursory glance. Meanwhile there are plenty of good stats identifying strong correlates on other factors. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_life_expectancy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ... https://statisticalatlas.com/United-States/Household-Types https://statisticalatlas.com/United-States/Household-Types

areyousure 4y ago
In case anyone is curious, the Spearman rank correlation coefficient between these two provided lists is ~0.32.

Terretta 4y ago

From Pew Research (2010), the decline in marriage is offset by rise in new families: The Resilience of Families. The decline of marriage has not knocked family life off its pedestal. Three-quarters of all adults (76%) say their family is the most important element of their life; 75% say they are “very satisfied” with their family life, and more than eight-in-ten say the family they live in now is as close as (45%) or closer than (40%) the family in which they grew up. However, on all of these questions, married adults give more positive responses than do unmarried adults. The Definition of Family. By emphatic margins, the public does not see marriage as the only path to family formation. Fully 86% say a single parent and child constitute a family; nearly as many (80%) say an unmarried couple living together with a child is a family; and 63% say a gay or lesbian couple raising a child is a family. The presence of children clearly matters in these definitions. If a cohabiting couple has no children, a majority of the public says they are not a family. Marriage matters, too. If a childless couple is married, 88% consider them to be a family. The Ties that Bind. In response to a question about whom they would assist with money or caregiving in a time of need, Americans express a greater sense of obligation toward relatives—including relatives by way of fractured marriages– than toward best friends. The ranking of relatives aligns in a predictable hierarchy. More survey respondents express an obligation to help out a parent (83% would feel very obligated) or grown child (77%) than say the same about a stepparent (55%) or a step or half sibling (43%). But when asked about one’s best friend, just 39% say they would feel a similar sense of obligation. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2010/11/18/the-decline-of-marriage-and-rise-of-new-families/ https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2010/11/18/the-dec...

dangus 4y ago
I think there's a really good argument to be made that the marriage rate was previously inflated artificially by cultural expectations and gender inequality. What kind of life could you expect to make for yourself as an unmarried woman when you didn't even have the right to open a bank account on your own? https://www.flagshipbanks.com/blog/the-history-of-women-and-banking-thanks-to-rbg https://www.flagshipbanks.com/blog/the-history-of-women-and-...

fellowniusmonk 4y ago

Family unit decline is a symptom not the underlying cause, it's a small part of the matrix of issues, it's often invoked as a means of blaming something inherently unchangeable, undefinable and unregulateable as a diversion. And everyone does talk about it, I hear about it 3 times a week and it's because it's a useful distraction and a wedge to force legislation of personal moral choice. It's like saying all problems individuals are having are caused by the individual. Somehow society, culture, governance and macro economic forces have no effect. If you think the breakdown of the family unit is the root cause, let me assure you, homeschool familes are facing the same issue in our current environment. Of course if we want to embrace absurdist reductionism the REAL problem is the dysfunction of churches abandoning their societal role for political power in the 80s, family's DO break down and now we have no "generally apolitical" relational safety net outside of the workplace, so social dysfunction can promulgate with no positive feedback loop of increased social cohesion to stop it. We need religious, areligious and apolitical societies that will facilitate mingling of social classes and are focused on the social good.

jollybean 4y ago

I think it's 'an issue' but not the major issue, except where it's 'acute'. A lot of couples are not getting married these days, which is 'something' but not like a disaster but in extremely impoverished/violeng ghetto areas you see well over 50% of kids not having any meaningful relationship with their Fathers. Now that is a 'primary' issue but it's also tied to incarceration, violence etc.. Definitely ultra violence (related to universal gun access), lack of healthcare, excessive inequality in some areas, obesity etc. are big factors. I'm not sure if the most recent post-COVID data is hugely helpful because America did 'not very well' on that one despite having vaccines available. I mean, that's a whole other level of sad. But give it 3 years to see where the data sits without the 'COVID' blip.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

throwaway743 4y ago

At a glance this reads close to "families with no father figure". You probably didn't mean the likes or to induce knee jerk reactions, but would replace "family unit decline" as being an issue of concern with "there's little to no social/gov provided safety net" for folks who need it.

jonesjoneses 4y ago
The father becomes the state.
mercy_dude 4y ago
No family is exactly what I meant. More than 1 in every 2 adult are living without a spouse and 15% adult live by themselves alone [1] [1] https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2021/families-and-living-arrangements.html https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2021/families... No government can replace the support system a family can provide.

kergonath 4y ago

Family as we know it is a historical oddity. Before the industrial revolution the social networks were much broader and involved whole communities, or much more extended families than what we consider normal now. We can introduce other social groups that help people in need and provide support and are not based primarily on family ties. This is orthogonal to “family units”, which is more of a conservative dog whistle. There are not fewer families now than there used to be, it’s just that a family is not necessarily the stereotypical married heterosexual couple with their 6 children.

sfvegandude 4y ago

Straight people should get their act together. Y’all are so stuck on an image of family that has only existed for two generations at most, and it causes you to be lonely and unable to form relationships of meaningful strength outside that image. I feel sorry for straight people.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]