American Life Blog
October 12, 2022
A Moral Double Standard on Marital Infidelity
Men and women hold different views of the morality of marital infidelity depending on who commits it. Continue Reading →
July 8, 2022
Why a Modest Decline in Religious Belief is Important
Another poll, another record broken in the country’s continuing religious descent. A new Gallup poll finds that 81 percent of Americans say that they believe in God, representing a six point drop over the last five years. Continue Reading →
May 23, 2022
Jews and the Faith of Their Children
Just half of Jews in America today believe it is important for children to be brought up in a religion so they can learn good values, making the Jewish community an outlier compared to other religious traditions. Continue Reading →
May 9, 2022
In a Post-Roe World Will Inflation Still Dominate Our Attention?
Following the leaking of a draft opinion that would overturn the Supreme Court decision Roe vs. Wade, what roll will inflation play in the 2022 midterm election? Continue Reading →
April 14, 2022
Jewish Religious Exceptionalism
Data from the Survey Center on American Life’s new American National Family Life Survey reveals that while Jews heavily embrace cultural traditions such as foodways and festivals, their levels of engagement with conventional forms of religious practice, such as regular worship and religious marriage ceremonies, are much lower than national norms. Continue Reading →
April 4, 2022
The Childhood Loneliness of Generation Z
There’s a growing concern that young adults today are experiencing an epidemic of loneliness, social isolation, and disconnection. A lot of blame is being placed on social media, or more recently the pandemic. Delayed family formation is another likely factor—young adults are marrying later than they once did. But what if Gen Z is lonelier Continue Reading →
March 14, 2022
Americans Are More Optimistic Than You Think
Groups facing prejudice in the country today are among the most optimistic about the nation’s future. Continue Reading →
March 1, 2022
Diversity and Disconnection
Americans who live in areas packed with neighborhood amenities tend to have a more diverse set of friends and acquaintances. Continue Reading →
February 23, 2022
Polarization in American Family Life is Overblown
Throughout the 2020 election, stories of families and friendships ripped apart by political differences were featured regularly in the press. Many also argued that numerous Americans had become trapped in ideological echo chambers. These narratives all fed into the larger national polarization thesis which suggested Americans were deeply divided and ideologically sorted into narrow social Continue Reading →
February 22, 2022
Crime, Policing, and the Racial Divide on the Left
In the wake of George Floyd’s death, “defund the police” became a rallying cry among many liberal activists. Even so, the movement never really caught on among the establishment wing of the Democratic party. Certainly, rising crime had something to do with this: The FBI found that the murder rate increased roughly 30 percent between Continue Reading →
Generation Uncoupled
Generation Uncoupled: America's New Gender Divide and the Crisis of Human Connection
Buy NowSurvey Reports
Daniel A. Cox
July 23, 2026
A Digital Divide in American Adolescence: Gender, Class, and the New Teenage Experience
If teenage years once represented a time of rebellion, teenagers’ lives today are marked less by pushing boundaries and more by building their own. Many teenage experiences are less common than they once were—dating, working a part-time job, and experimenting with drugs and alcohol are less common experiences. The 2026 American Teenagers Survey from the Continue Reading →
Daniel A. Cox, Jae Grace, Avery Shields
April 27, 2026
Strangers Next Door: The Decline of Neighborhood Socializing and the Class Divide in Belonging
Acknowledgment The American Enterprise Institute’s Survey Center on American Life is grateful to the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation for its generous support of this research. As Americans spend more of their time online, the neighborhood—once a primary physical location for real-world socialization—is playing less of a central role than ever before. Since Continue Reading →
In the News
October 23, 2026 WIRED
A Dating App Is Offering ‘Chivalry Mode’ and ‘Marriage Timeline’ to Get Gen Z Married
October 23, 2026 Vice
Why Some Divorced Men End Up Alone in Old Age, According to Science
October 23, 2026 Prof G Media
Preparing men for others
October 19, 2026 Commentary









