Characteristics of Effective Families

I think this information is good for any family. The study was done by professors at BYU. I am cleaning out papers I don't want to hold onto the paper. I might as well share the information.

Acknowledgment: The information below was gathered and reported by Dr. William G Dyer, Dean Emeritus, Brigham Young University, and Dr. Phillip R. Kunz, Professor of Sociology, Brigham Young University.

In 1987 data was gathered from 200 strong LDS families on the characteristics of effective Mormon families. Here are the some of the things that were discovered:

1. Almost 100% of the families are full tithe payers, attend all their meetings regularly and always accept a job or position in the Church.
2. These families have very clear goals as to what they want for their children. Virtually 100% said their goals included: having their children marry in the temple, get a good education, develop a strong self concept, be active in the Church, Develop a strong sense of family unity and have children go on a mission. (We also found that less effective families did not have these clear goals for their children.)
3. In effective families, 73% said they always or usually held daily prayer.
4. Two-thirds of these families said they always or usually held regular weekly family home evening. Th other one third also held family home evening, but not as regularly.
5. These families did not identify movie stars or sports figures as family heroes. They most often said the heroes in their families were church leaders or other older family members.
6. Husbands and wives work at having good personal relationship in their marriages. On a scale of 1 to 10, the average family was an 8.5 in terms of feeling the marriage was strong and good.
7. Ninety-six percent said they most often would do things together as a family. Ninety-two percent said they always went as a family to activities where another family member performed or was in a game or activity.
8. These families are not free from adversity. Eighty percent said they had some real adversities in their lives (illness, death, problems with children, etc.) but they worked as a family to deal with problems. The family was the first line of defense in times of adversity. They worked things out together as much as possible.
9. Over 80% said they daily express affection physically to other family members.
10. These families on the average watch TV only 1/3 as much as the average family in America.
11. Effective families tend to see themselves as somewhat stricter than other families. They had rather few rules but very high expectations. They expect a lot from their children.
12. They tend to reward their children more by giving praise or some special treat, rather than giving money.
13. These families spend a great deal of time talking together. almost 100% said they talk regularly as a family and also to each child individually on a regular, almost, daily basis.

W. G. Dyer and P. R. Kunz, Effective Mormon Families, Deseret Book Co., Salt Lake City, UT, 1986.