A resource for society

Is family a resource for society? That is the first question of six sociological surveys proposed by the Pontifical Council for the Family. The latter asked Catholic Bishops’ Conferences in various countries to organize scientific working groups, made of university professors, sociologists and scholars – both catholic and non-catholic – to work on this topic, asking questions to significant population samples in the 30-55 age group. In Mexico, Italy, Spain, the United States, Poland and Brazil, they positively responded, and the first, somewhat surprising result was that a “normally constituted” family – including father, mother and at least two children – is actually the “best” resource for society. The value of this research is that this result was obtained through the verification of empirical data. Over and above the ever-important data, the objective of the initiative is to propose a method – especially to family associations – for having a dialogue with politicians, legislators, and communication experts, based on facts rather than abstract ideas.

About the families. Let us look at the figures. Four types of families were identified in Italy: adults not in a couple, singles and single parents with children, which account for 18.8%; couples without children (married or not married but living together), 21.9%; married couples with an only child, 28.4%, and married couples with two or more children, 30.9 %. Basically, the “normally constituted” families are now less than half of the Italian families, they usually have a low education level and not much money, but they tend to be quite religious. Conversely, in Mexico – where 94.9% of the population considers the family as “the most important thing in life”, the survey carries out a more historical analysis. Married couples have shifted from 46% in 1960 to 40.7% in 2010; live-in couples from 8.7% to 14.4%, while the separated or divorced went up from 0.6% to 5.3%. However, in the last ten years – 2000 through 2010 – married couples in the 20-29 age group shifted from 40 to 27.9%, and live-in couples from 15.2 to 23%, while divorces doubled from 7.4 to 15.1%.
The Spanish research shows that 59% of those interviewed considers the family as a private choice and “a public asset”, while 41% considers it as “something pertaining to the private sphere” only. 68% consider as family same-sex couples, too. In Brazil, three types of family were identified: couples with children (married couples, re-married couples, and stable marriages), accounting for 48% of the interviewees, who declare themselves to be religious (catholic) and consider as family the couple formed by heterosexual partners. Then there are childless couples (16%), that consider as family also the couple made of homosexual partners. Lastly, there are single-parent families (17%), mainly formed by mothers with children. This last type of family shows “the crisis of the male figure and the excessive burden carried by working mothers”.

A social asset. All the surveys show that the family is important not only for personal wellbeing, but also for the population’s social welfare. The Mexican survey shows that the family is considered as the main source of relations based on trust and solidarity and able to solve both day-to-day and exceptional problems that life may hold in store. However, the family is also seen as a provider of necessary emotional support, and – of course – the main point of reference for children’s care and upbringing. 50.8% of the interviewees consider it as the main political socializing space and as the most important source of help for young people with reference to all the issues concerning life, school, home, health, and love.
Conversely, the “Latinos” seem to be less experienced than the “Anglo-Saxon” in organized associative activities. However, this appears to be a consequence of the crisis, because the spirit of sacrifice and solidarity is often expressed through the grandparents’ help in taking care of their grandchildren or other forms of family collaboration of this kind. At any rate, the interviewees gave very high scores to the family as a place for the union’s stability, (9.4) for the couple’s personal satisfaction (9.3), and for the children’s birth, upbringing and education (9.2). The Italian survey shows a family that is shifting from the singles’ or single parents’ “pessimistic and sad” climate, to a “very optimistic and serene” climate in families with two or more children. Help offered to people outside the family varies from “scarce” in the first type to “considerable” in childless couples, to “scarce” in families with one child, to “sufficient” in families with two or more children. The latter category shows the highest rate (30,9%), also in considering the family as a social institution with a public value.
Also the Polish interviewees think that there is a “calm and very optimistic climate” within the family (76.5%) and the most important objective for the married couple is “the birth and upbringing of the children” (80%) which goes beyond both partners’ individual welfare.
Brazilians think that procreation and the raising of children is considered “good” for the couple’s relationship, and the children’s upbringing is seen more as a “family priority” (71%) than a priority of society as a whole. Finding a fair balance between family and work seems to be a problem for Brazilian and Polish people alike. The latter – especially those belonging to the middle-class – affirm that they prefer their work to the family, perhaps to escape the poverty experienced by their fellow countrymen who have three or more children. In a more practical way, the North-American survey is focused on physical, mental and financial welfare. Data have been summarized by drawing on various statistics that had already been carried out, and show that married adults fall into depression much less than non-married adults, and that they keep far from sexual promiscuity or alcohol abuse. In addition, children who live in stable families suffer significantly less than children of divorced parents from anxiety, depression, alcohol or drug abuse and suicidal attempts.

Scarce consideration. The Italian survey shows that families with two or more children enjoy a better relational climate but have less financial resources than singles or childless families or de facto families, and they are not actually considered as “social resource” by society. All this despite the fact that the answers given by the interviewees show that the ability to listen, nurture, look after, but also transmit the values of honesty, trust, and spirit of sacrifice is stronger in adults with children whose parents were married. Marriage is confirmed as a strength in the ability to take care of others and transmit values. For example, married couples have the highest score – 6.97 (on a 0 to 10 scale) – in helping strangers solve their problems and in all other forms of care involving children and the elderly. In addition, the families who declare themselves religious have positive values above average in terms of pro-social virtues.
To sum up, the Italian survey shows that the “normally constituted families are still the country’s strength, but they are becoming a minority”. Therefore, “a minority of solid families must bear the brunt of a social cohesion that has been jeopardized by the individualistic and privatistic trends supported by our political-administrative system, and – of course – by the market. The Spaniards claim that the normally constituted families are an essential resource of society, because “they convey to their members those attitudes, behaviors and aspirations that make social and political coexistence possible”. The majority of the interviewees believe that their family of origin handed on to them values such as honesty and respect, trust and spirit of sacrifice, but half of them think that family these days is less capable of inspiring these values in its own members. In addition, 78% of the Spanish interviewees believe that the family contributes to society’s development, and this figure could be determined by the unique ability that the family has to absorb problems in times of crisis such as this one. Similarly, in Brazil there is a very high percentage of people who believe the family is capable of transmitting values such as honesty, compliance with the law, trust and a welcoming attitude, ability to help and spirit of sacrifice: 78% of the interviewees see the family as the institution that contributes the most to the country’s development, followed by schools and universities, the Church, private enterprises and judicial power. In commenting the data, the Brazilians write that “the family is a resource because it is a place for selflessness and giving”, and that “without the protection, promotion and care that takes place within the family towards the ill, the elderly and the unemployed, society would collapse”.

The abuse problem. The Mexicans highlighted that the family is a resource for society especially because it is a resource for children. 73.5% of those who live with both parents have very high percentages – ranging from 70% to 90% – in terms of education, physical safety and access to work, mental, physical, sexual and reproductive health, as well as other items. The school dropout rate of adolescents who live with both parents is 9%, whereas the rate of adolescents who live with their separated or divorced mother is 17.4%. Adolescent girls who live with their mother but without their father have 38% more chances of being physically abused than the girls of the same age whose father lives at home; those who live with their mother and their stepfather have 298% more chances of being physically abused. Data concerning violence on women are alarming: women who got married in the city hall and in church suffered physical violence in 7.9% of the cases in the last year (2006 data); women in a live-in relationship in 14.5% of the cases. These figures lead to the conclusion that in Mexico it is necessary not only to solve problems but also to develop a “family perspective”, namely carrying out some education and prevention work and understanding that, through stable marriages and children living together with their parents, the “new generations have the chance to live a better couple and family experience, to suffer less violence problems and to flourish physically and mentally, as well as to enjoy greater welfare, sounder financial means and other things as well”.

(16 May 2012)