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The institutions of American culture are changing, and the family is no exception. Forces like technology are influencing habits in the home and disrupting traditional norms that have shaped young people for generations. But some things never change—like the parental responsibility for setting and communicating the values of their home and family.
In his new book, The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in Its Proper Place, Andy Crouch explores the important role of the family not only in helping young people to navigate the demands of current technology, but also in shaping their character for the long-term. Drawing from the research Barna conducted for Andy’s book, the infographics below explore some of the key questions around the role of family in personal values and identity formation in a tech-heavy world where parents believe it’s harder than ever to raise children.
The family continues to be the institution that most defines us. Family is ranked by American adults as more central to their identity than any other surveyed factor (i.e. being an American, faith, ethnicity, etc). More than six in 10 (62%) also say that family plays a significant role in their identity (“a lot”). But this is changing generationally. Only slightly more than half of all Millennials (53%) say family plays a significant role (“a lot”) compared to over three-quarters of Elders (76%). Despite these shifts, parents are taking their task of character building very seriously. Self-control, patience, fairness and conflict resolution are some of the virtues being discussed daily between parent and child.
Read The Tech-Wise Family for more insight into “the proper place for technology” as well as a series of practical nudges, disciplines and choices that can help you and your family keep technology in its proper place.
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About the Research
In partnership with Andy Crouch, Barna Group conducted a public opinion survey among 1,021 U.S. parents, nationally representative of parents with children ages 4–17 who live in their home at least 50 percent of the time. The survey was conducted in January and February of 2016. The sampling error for this study is plus or minus 3 percentage points, at the 95% confidence level. Minimal statistical weighting was used to calibrate the sample to known population percentages in relation to demographic variables.
February 3-11, 2015 Study
This research contains data from a study conducted among 1,000 U.S. adults conducted online from February 3 to February 11, 2015. The estimated maximum sampling error for this study is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.
About Barna
Barna research is a private, non-partisan, for-profit organization under the umbrella of the Issachar Companies. Located in Ventura, California, Barna Group has been conducting and analyzing primary research to understand cultural trends related to values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors since 1984.
© Barna Group, 2017