A child looks through a window of a car on a rainy day.

February 10, 2022

The Problem with Parental Favoritism

There is no shortage of advice for parents. The Internet is awash with parenting tips, tactics, and strategies to meet every conceivable exigency. But for all the varying recommendations provided to parents, perhaps one of the most critical is something to be avoided—picking favorites. A new survey suggests that parental favoritism, or even the perception Continue Reading →

A Caucasian mother embraces her child on the school yard in front of a yellow school bus.

October 12, 2021

Should Teachers or Parents Have More Influence Over Education Decisions?

The August 2021 American Perspectives Survey explores how much say parents and partisans believe parents, teachers, and legislators should have in deciding what is taught in public schools. Continue Reading →

July 9, 2020

The Parents are Not All Right: The Experiences of Parenting During a Pandemic

Findings from the AEI COVID-19 and American Life Survey

Parenting during the pandemic placed a huge burden on those with children at home. Mothers (especially single mothers) have experienced a decline in mental health and are especially anxious about sending their children back to school. Continue Reading →

Generation Uncoupled

Generation Uncoupled book

Generation Uncoupled: America's New Gender Divide and the Crisis of Human Connection

Buy Now

Survey 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 →