Family violence harms everyone, but not equally; women are three times more likely than men to be victims. In the case of deadly violence, government statistics show us that 33 percent of female victims of homicide—but just 3 percent of male victims—are killed by spouses, partners, or ex-partners. Nationwide, the most recent annual death toll from family violence was 1,351 women. Overall, women are more likely to be injured by a family member than to be mugged or raped by a stranger or hurt in an automobile accident

The debt problem is getting worse as interest rates increase; analysts project rates will reach about 5 percent annually for loans made in 2023. At that rate, a typical young graduate will be saddled with about $300 per month in debt payments. Worse off will be students who do not complete their degrees—perhaps 40 percent of those who take out loans—and are left with debt and less opportunity to land a good-paying job

High in the Andes Mountains of Peru, families send their children to the local school. But “local” can mean three miles away or more, and there are no buses, so these children, almost all from poor families, walk an hour or more each way. Schooling is required by law, but in the rural highlands, some parents prefer to keep their children at home where they can help with the farming and livestock.

Ideally, parents help children become well-integrated, contributing members of society. Of course, family socialization continues throughout the life cycle. Adults change within marriage, and as any parent knows, mothers and fathers learn as much from their children as their children learn from them.

Because some business and government programs still use this conventional definition, many unmarried but committed partners of the same or opposite sex are excluded from family health care and other benefits. However, our society is gradually coming to recognize as families people with or without legal or blood ties who feel they belong together and define themselves as a family.