Well, knock me over with a feather.
That’s what an advocate for marriage and family thinks about new findings that marriage and family formation are not important life goals for young people.
Barna, a firm that studies the religious beliefs and behavior of people, spent much of last year researching and learning more about the so-called “Connected Generation” commonly known as Generation Z and Millennials.
“The Connected Generation Report,” conducted in partnership with World Vision, involves more than 15,000 interviews across 25 countries in nine languages.
“Forty percent of them said that they’re afraid to fail, they’re anxious about important decisions, and they feel the pressure to succeed,” said Sarah Perry of Family Research Council on The Todd Starnes Show. “So these people, in realizing that they don’t want family, don’t also understand that that family would give them that security, that level of identity.”
Perry told Starnes people are wired for community.
“We are wired for family,” she stressed. “God is miraculous in His design for us in that way, but it’s no wonder they’re anxious and they’re alone and they feel pressure because that unit, that unit of construction that God was so wise to put in place, (because) it is not good for us to be alone, is non-existent.”
Perry added that people, in general, have been taught that we can provide all of our own needs, and that we’re self-sufficient.
“The most important thing in this connected generation is succeeding and making money,” Perry told Starnes. “So, it’s no wonder that they feel disenfranchised and overall unhappy, (because) that element of family is fully missing in their lives.”
38 percent of respondents told Barna they want to follow their dreams in the next 10 years. 32 percent aspire to travel to other countries. 20 percent want to enjoy life before having responsibilities. 18 percent want to try to become famous or influential.
Read More: Maintaining a healthy marriage
