community
Mental illness and THE message of salvation
Among the many questions explored in "Acute Mental Illness and Christian Faith," a survey conducted by LifeWay Research and co- sponsored by Focus on the Family, was the disparity between the opinions of the mentally ill, their families and pastors on the question of whether mental illness disrupts an individual's ability to accept his or her faith's promise of eternal life.
While a majority of family members and pastors said they strongly believe the mentally ill will receive salvation, only 40 percent of those who suffer from mental illness agreed.
According to researchers, clergy and others, the gap illustrates an ongoing struggle for faith communities to understand and help fellow believers who live with conditions including depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
"One of the key aspects of getting better is having hope, because mental health issues destroy hope," said Matthew Stanford, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor University. "The church has hope to offer that transcends circumstances."
Family life
DAD's income, education can affect your future
A child's odds of breaking out of poverty or gaining a college education are heavily shaped by the father's income and education level, says Richard Reeves of the Brookings Institution.
In a couple of graphs that unpack piles of data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics at the University of Michigan, Reeves breaks education and income levels down into quintiles and shows the close connection between a father's level and how far his children go.
Whether you see that as a glass half empty or glass half full depend on your starting point, Reeves acknowledges.
"If you assume that in an ideal world, where you would end up would bear no relation to where you started."
That is, he argues, if we had real equality of opportunity, 20 percent of every group would end up in the other four groups in the next generation.
Instead, 41 percent of kids whose father had top-level educational achievement stay there, and 36 percent of those who start in the bottom income bracket will remain there.
There is some mobility, of course. Of those who start in the bottom fifth of income levels, 35 percent end up in the middle class or above, which is roughly equal to the 36 percent who stay put.
In the shadows: Life with a famous sibling
One night several years ago, Lisa Clark got a call from her brother James Valentine.
As the lead guitarist for Maroon 5, Valentine was standing under the bright lights and public eye of the Grammy Awards ceremony, and he wanted to share it with his big sister.
Meanwhile, Clark, with her shoulder pushing the phone to her ear, was crouched down on her knees scrubbing one of her five children's vomit off her living room floor.
"Our lives could not be more different," Clark, 40, said of her brother. She laughed about it then, and she laughs about it now. Having a world-recognized rock star for a brother has its share of benefits - and difficulties.
Though the lives of famous people plaster the covers of tabloids, blogs and websites, their less-famous siblings often remain in the shadows of near obscurity. In some families, this may cause even more contention than the typical sibling relationship.
"Sibling rivalry," as most experts call it, begins early. A 2005 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign study revealed that on average, siblings ages 3 to 7 engage in some sort of conflict almost four times per hour.
Though that number tends to decrease as siblings age, feelings of resentment and jealousy may linger in a sibling relationship for years.
Financial
responsibility
not retiring has its OPPORTUNITIES, PITFALLs
Older Americans are shifting the demographics of the labor force. According to the 2014 study "Work in Retirement: Myths and Motivations" by Merrill Lynch and research firm Age Wave, more than 7 in 10 people approaching retirement said they want to work past the average retirement age of 64, as of 2010.
Perhaps even more telling, the report suggests that it will be increasingly unusual for older people not to work during this period in their lives.
Employment statistics support that. The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that 32.7 million people over the age of 55 were employed in September 2014 - up from 21.7 million 10 years ago. The BLS also projects that by 2022, 31.9 percent of those ages 65 to 74 will still be working.
The reasons are varied. For one thing, perception of older age has changed, resulting in what the Merrill study refers to as a "re- visioning of later life." Additionally, increasing life expectancy - coupled with better overall health during those additional years - has made a longer working life more viable.
That carries both opportunity and pitfalls. While many older Americans find themselves looking at a longer lifespan than prior generations, they should also anticipate additional costs - in living expenses, health care and other financial outlays.
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