Council on Contemporary Families

Guest column | Six things to know if you are estranged from your adult child You’re right, things have changed. And you may need to be flexible to re-establish a relationship with your adult child.

Read @ccfamilies.bsky.social Board Member Joshua Coleman's recent guest column in the @washingtonpost.com:
📰 "Six things to know if you are estranged from your adult child"

www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/202...

Good news--we've extended the deadline for the @ccfamilies.bsky.social Early Career Scholars Program!

Now accepting submissions until March 15, 2026, at 11:59 MDT.

Link to apply: forms.gle/WyYPnqYtsTZ6...

"It’s not that low birth rates don’t present real challenges. It’s that the solution to those challenges isn’t to try to raise birth rates. We need to ... adapt [and] invest in the populations and institutions we have rather than chasing unattainable population targets."

🗞️ Check out this op-ed in @thehill.com by @ccfamilies.bsky.social member @karenguzzo.bsky.social:

"How to raise birth rates is the wrong question: Here’s what we should be asking"

thehill.com/opinion/heal...

‼️ Reminder: Have you applied for @ccfamilies.bsky.social Early Career Scholars Program yet?

The deadline is this Sunday, March 1st, at 11:59 PM PST.

Link to apply: forms.gle/3ixRtuMa6K6o...

Don't miss out!

❗The Council on Contemporary Families is seeking a new Editor-in-Chief to lead the @thesocietypages.bsky.social CCF blog!

Visit our Instagram page for more information:
instagram.com/p/DVNzzOGAKN...

Can you get the same benefits from friendship as romantic relationships? Love doesn’t have to be romantic to improve your life. Research shows that friendships, especially high-quality ones, are key for health and well-being.

@ccfamilies.bsky.social member @belladepaulo.bsky.social highlights in the @washingtonpost.com how society tends to value romantic relationships over friendships, even though friendships are necessary and beneficial to our well-being.

www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/202...

Raging at your spouse about chores won’t fix the problem. What works | CNN Unequal housework strains couples nationwide. Three strategies can help them move past defensiveness and create fairer households, benefiting the whole family.

@ccfamilies.bsky.social Executive Director Dan Carlson was featured in a @cnn.com article discussing the gendered division of household labor and how couples can achieve a more equitable distribution.

🔗 www.cnn.com/2026/02/07/h...

Research Finds Interaction With Father, Not Mother, Affects Child Health

@ccfamilies.bsky.social Board President @sjss.bsky.social was recently quoted in the @nytimes.com, reviewing a study on fathers’ parenting style and their children’s heart health years later.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/03/h...

The Father-Daughter Divide Why they crave closeness but struggle to connect

Check out @ccfamilies.bsky.social Joshua Coleman's contribution to @theatlantic.com article on the "father-daughter divide": each craves closeness but is unsure how to achieve it.
www.theatlantic.com/family/2026/...

Are Dating Apps Helping or Hurting Romance? Here’s What the Science Actually Shows According to this sex researcher, the struggles we blame on swiping existed long before smartphones.

@ccfamilies.bsky.social Stephanie Coontz was recently quoted in an Oprah Daily article on modern dating, exploring what she's termed the "nostalgia trap", or the way we romanticize things that never were.

Read here: www.oprahdaily.com/life/wholene...

Call for applications: The @ccfamilies.bsky.social Frank F. Furstenberg Early Career Scholars Program!

Are you an early-career scholar researching American families? Are you interested in receiving guidance on promoting your research to the media?

Apply now! More info: forms.gle/m1grUGQisRt2...

Figure showing trajectories of maternal depression symptoms by country

New brief by @ccfamilies.bsky.social discusses research showing that US moms recover more slowly from postpartum depression than in countries with more family-friendly work policies. contemporaryfamilies.utah.edu/publications...

‼️ Check out our new brief report:

More Than Postpartum: Tracking Differences in the Arc of Maternal Depression Across Liberal Welfare Regimes

New research shows that both national policies and personal resources shape postpartum depression recovery.

🔗 bit.ly/4aKzw0n

Sticker shock? New survey reveals most pressing challenges for U.S. families Government assistance for families gains support amid economic worries.

‼️ Check out @ccfamilies.bsky.social Board Member @pettsric.bsky.social featured in the @deseret.com.web.brid.gy discussing marriage, children’s well-being, and support for families:

www.deseret.com/special-seri...

The Parental-Happiness Fallacy Where commentary on moms’ satisfaction goes wrong

Are wealthy moms the happiest moms?

‼️ Check out @ccfamilies.bsky.social Board Member Jennifer Glass’ comments in @theatlantic.com on the role wealth and education play in maternal satisfaction.

www.theatlantic.com/family/2025/...

You’ve heard of gatekeeping—but what about gate closing? How does it shape households’ division of labor?

🎧 Find out on this week’s Equal-ish podcast episode featuring @ccfamilies.bsky.social Board Member @sjss.bsky.social!

🔗 linktr.ee/equalish

Picture of a brief published by the Council on Contemporary Families titled "How Do We Know When Fertility is Too Low?"

You've probably heard that US fertility is "below replacement level." But what does that actually mean???

Demographers @lesja.bsky.social & others explain the link between birth rates & population growth in this new @ccfamilies.bsky.social brief. contemporaryfamilies.utah.edu/publications...

‼️New @ccfamilies.bsky.social Brief Report ‼️

How Do We Know When Fertility Is Too Low?

Falling birth rates have fueled worries about “below replacement” fertility. But the link between today’s fertility rate and long-term population decline isn’t so simple.

Check it out here:

🔗 bit.ly/4hjOHyS

This week @ccfamilies.bsky.social blog hosted by @thesocietypages.bsky.social, Steven Mintz talks about the social construction of autism.

Check it out: thesocietypages.org/ccf/

Do Social Security benefits rules perpetuate marital status and gender inequalities? AbstractBackground and Objectives. Social Security benefits rules privilege married persons and penalize divorced, prematurely widowed, and lifelong single

📖 CCF Members @carrds723.bsky.social and Dr. Pamela Smock recently published research in The Gerontologist:
bit.ly/43hMcXY

Their work examines #socialsecurity benefits as they perpetuate inequalities--particularly related to marital status and gender.

Check out coverage here! 👉 bit.ly/4hd2Wph

Check out the TSP Friday Roundup by Sara Kadoura!

Every week, we review and summarize the latest from us and our partners @contexts.org, @ccfamilies.bsky.social, & @firstpublics.bsky.social:
🔗 bit.ly/3VKFjKT 🔗

‼️ Today on the @thesocietypages.bsky.social blog ‼️

The Silent Signals of Great Sex: What We’re Not Saying in the Bedroom

Research by @ccfamilies.bsky.social Co-Chair @aliciamwalker1.bsky.social and Audrey Lutmer explores nonverbal sexual communication and its impact on intimacy.

🔗 bit.ly/46tvozu

Our latest September @thesocietypages.bsky.social blog post features Dr. Anna Gjika discussing her book: When Rape Goes Viral: Youth and Sexual Assault in the Digital Age.

@gjikaphd.bsky.social

Read our 3Q here:
🔗 thesocietypages.org/ccf/2025/09/...

📢 Check out our third @thesocietypages.bsky.social post from this month!

3Q With William D. Lopez on Raiding the Heartland: An American Story of Deportation and Resistance

🔗 thesocietypages.org/ccf/2025/09/...

📢 Our second September blog post features @ccfamilies.bsky.social co-chairs @aliciamwalker1.bsky.social and @ariellekuperberg.bsky.social discussing their book:

BDSM Without the Sex: What Kink Practitioners Can Teach Us About Building Community?

🔗 thesocietypages.org/ccf/2025/09/...

Check it out!

📢 September Notice!

Have you visited the @ccfamilies.bsky.social blog hosted by @thesocietypages.bsky.social this month? Make sure to check it out!

First up:
3Q with Andréa Becker Get it Out: On The Politics of Hysterectomy

🔗 thesocietypages.org/ccf/2025/09/...

@andreabeckerphd.bsky.social

This week @CCFamilies.bsky.social blog hosted by @TheSocietyPages.bsky.social, I ask 3 questions of William Lopez about his book, Raiding the Heartland.

Check it out: thesocietypages.org/ccf/

What Kink Practitioners Can Teach Us About Building Community?

This week I discuss my book w/ @ArielleKuperberg.bsky.social, Bound by BDSM: Unexpected Lessons in Building a Happier Life on the @CCFamilies.bsky.social blog hosted by @TheSocietyPages.bsky.social
Check it out: thesocietypages.org/ccf/

Check out our new brief @ccfamilies.bsky.social on the limitations of population projections for understanding future fertility patterns. The growing public discourse on declining fertility needs demographers voices and expertise, while recognizing the limits of our methods.