The future of the American family depends on Americans' ability to agree on the role government should play in supporting marriage and raising children—so how can voters bridge political gaps and come together in support of the family?

Helping young people achieve their life goals of marriage is deeply important because a happy marriage is one of the best predictors of life satisfaction for men and women. Accordingly, in this report from the Institute for Family Studies and the Wheatley Institute, we sought to find the top attitudes and behaviors that were predictive of a high quality and stable marriage in a recent survey of married men and women.

This year marks the tenth fielding of the American Family Survey, a collaborative effort between the Wheatley Institute and Center for the Study of Elections and Democrat at Brigham Young University and the Deseret News.

Wheatley Institute Constitutional Government Director, James Phillips, wrote a blog post today for The Federalist Society regarding the Supreme Court yesterday denying a petition for certiorari in Apache Stronghold v United States. Justice Gorsuch argued in his dissent from the denial, joined by Justice Thomas, that allowing the lower court’s ruling to stand poses a threat to religious liberty.

Wheatley Religion Fellow Samuel Wilkinson co-authored an article for the Deseret News on the history of the relationship between psychiatry and religion. Despite longstanding negative assumptions from early psychiatry, many modern studies have found strong links between religious attendance and lowered risks of depression and anxiety.

Wheatley Family Fellow Jenet Erickson was quoted in a New York Times article covering recent discussion on federal family legislation. Erickson, who previously co-authored an essay in 2021 with Vice President JD Vance emphasizing the importance of stay-at-home parents, reiterated the natural capacities of mothers to bond with their children.