Patt Morrison for Wednesday, August 24, 2011

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

1-3 p.m.

 

CALL-IN @ 866-893-5722, 866-893-KPCC; OR JOIN THE CONVERSATION ONLINE ON THE PATT MORRISON BLOG AT KPCC-DOT-ORG

 

 

 

1:06 – 1:30

OPEN

 

 

 

1:30 - 1:58:30

Unmarried parents more likely now than divorced parents: are unmarried, cohabitating parents detrimental to children?

It used to be divorce that everyone was worried about. But divorce rates are down: now, according to a new report, children are more likely to have unmarried parents than divorced ones. Are unmarried parents who live together the new risk to children? The University of Virginia’s National Marriage Project and the Institute for American Values say yes; their recent report states that the number of American parents who are cohabitating but not married has increased twelvefold since the 1970s. The report’s data, which comes from the Census Bureau and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Survey of Family Growth, states that 42% of children had unmarried, cohabitating parents by age 12 while only 24% had divorced parents. The report went further to cite studies that assert that children with unmarried, cohabitating parents perform worse in school and have more psychological problems (Journal of Marriage and Family and Sociology of Education). Even further, it cites a 2010 report on child abuse that found that 57.2 of 1,000 children with an unmarried partner were abused while only 6.8 of 1,000 children with married parents were abused (federal Department of Health and Human Services).

 

Where are we seeing cohabitating parents? W. Bradford Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project, explains that the number of cohabiting parents began to quickly increase in poor communities in the late 1960s. Now, the phenomenon has moved to lower-middle-class families, with out-of-wedlock births among high-school-educated women up from 5% in 1982 to 34% in the 2000s. But Stephanie Coontz, director of public education for the Council on Contemporary Families, does not agree that marriage will help keep these parents together or that parents cohabitating without marrying hurts children. Coontz has researched families of the 1960s and found unhappy married couples who married because it was expected and ultimately did more damage to their children than unmarried couples do today. Does marriage help keep a couple together? Is there a reason—economic, philosophical or otherwise—to not get married? Does it make a difference to the child if her parents are married?

 

Guests:

W. Bradford Wilcox, director, National Marriage Project; associate professor, Sociology, University of Virginia

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Stephanie Coontz, director of public education for the Council on Contemporary Families; professor of History and Family Studies at Evergreen State College; author of “A Strange Stirring: The Feminine Mystique and American Women at the Dawn of the 1960s,”  "Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy, or How Love Conquered Marriage," and others

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2:06 – 2:19

OPEN

 

 

 

2:21:30 – 2:39

Is it possible to repress sexual abuse?

Are our brains hardwired to repress traumatic experiences like sexual abuse? There is a debate raging within the mental health field about the psychology around memory and sexual trauma. On one side, some researchers believe that it is possible to have experienced sexual abuse and be rendered completely incapable of remembering the experience (s) until something later in life (when it’s psychologically safe) triggers the memory.  On the other side, researchers say there is little evidence to support the phenomenon of complete repression, noting that it’s difficult given the lack of credible evidence and corroboration often years after the trauma occurred to be assured with any certainty that the memories are real. They note that a child may be confused by the abuse, suppress or forget the memories until they reach adulthood and then confront the abuse through the eyes of an adult. The new understanding of these memories can trigger PTSD symptoms. However, the distinction is that the individuals can access the memories.  Is the brain capable of completely disassociating from painful memories to protect the delicate psyche of an abuse victim or is the brain simply not that complex an instrument?   

 

Guest:

DOUBTS THAT REPRESSION IS POSSIBLE
Richard J. McNally, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology and Director of Clinical Training at Harvard University
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UNCONFIRMED

SUPPORTS THE POSSIBILITY OF REPRESSSION

Bessel van der Kolk, MD, an internationally recognized leader in the field of psychological trauma.

 

Jim Hopper Ph.D., instructor in Psychology, Harvard Medical School

 

 

 

 

2:41:30 – 2:58:30

Triple Crossing

Being double crossed is bad enough, but being triple crossed? Well, I guess that becomes good again, right? Triple Crossing by Sebastian Rotella is a high flying spy tale of explosive proportions. Take the driver’s seat with rookie San Diego border patrol agent, Valentine Pescatore, as he gets caught up playing games with Mexican drug cartels: dangerous games. Will he and renegade crime family informant, Isabel Puente live happily ever after? Or will Mexican Drug cartels turn this match made in heaven into a match made in hell. Bloodshed, betrayal, double-betrayal, double-crossing, TRIPLE CROSSING!  Tune in to hear Sebastian Rotella give the inside scoop on this sizzling summer blockbuster.

 

Guest:

Sebastian Rotella, senior reporter at ProPublica & author of “Triple Crossing:  a novel”

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Jonathan Serviss
Senior Producer, Patt Morrison
Southern California Public Radio
NPR Affiliate for Los Angeles
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626.583.5171, office
415.497.2131, mobile
jserviss@kpcc.org / jserviss@scpr.org
www.scpr.org