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.

Magnify the Podcast featured Wheatley Family Fellow Jenet Erickson discussing findings from a recent Pew Research study on women of faith. Latter-Day Saint women were found to have very high rates of happiness and spiritual well-being, in sharp contrast to negative pop culture depictions. Pew Research concluded: "“It may be the confluence of the religious values and practices, reinforced by social ties and norms, that give religious communities their powerful effects on so many aspects of human flourishing.”

Brian Willoughby, a Wheatley Institute Family Fellow, contributed an article to the Deseret News about a sharp decline in dating among young American adults. Willoughby cites financial pressures, low confidence, and shifting priorities as factors in this "disconnect from romance, dating and marriage."

Earlier this year, Wheatley Institute hosted journalist and author Jonathan Rauch for a lecture about his book Cross Purposes: Christianity's Broken Bargain with Democracy.