The 10 Most Popular Family Studies Blog Posts of All Time

The Family Studies blog published its first article in the fall of 2013. Since that time, we've grown from a few hundred readers a month to over 250,000. As we enter a new decade, we wanted to look back over the last several years to highlight our most-read posts. The articles and research briefs that made our top 10 addressed a range of topics including: pornography use among couples, marital happiness and stability, the father-daughter relationship, sexual behaviors, intimate partner violence, fertility, and adultery—all issues that are directly related to the health and happiness of families. Knowing the topics that continue to generate interest among readers helps us as we look ahead into the new year. As always, we will continue to publish articles, research briefs, and reports, like the ones in the following list, that deal with issues affecting the well-being of family life.

10. Jason S. Carroll and Brian J. Willoughby, "The Porn Gap: Gender Differences in Pornography Use in Couple Relationships" (October 2017) 
BYU professors Jason S. Carroll and Brian Willoughby summarized their 2017 study, which examined romantic partners’ pornography use rates, patterns of porn viewing, relationship boundaries related to pornography acceptance, and pornography-related conflict among committed couples. 

9. Jason Whiting, "Four Factors That Help Women Leave Abusive Relationships" (October 2016)
In a follow-up post to an earlier, popular piece on why women stay in abusive relationships, marriage and family therapist Dr. Jason Whiting highlighted findings from his research examining hundreds of Twitter posts by female victims of intimate partner violence who shared their stories using the hashtag #WhyILeft. 

8. Nicholas H. Wolfinger, "Does Sexual History Affect Marital Happiness?" (October 2018)
In this research brief, University of Utah sociologist Nicholas Wolfinger analyzed data from the General Social Survey to explore the relationship between premarital sex partners and marital happiness. 

7. Lyman Stone, "Male Sexlessness is Rising, But Not for the Reasons Incels Claim" (May 2018)
IFS research fellow Lyman Stone explored the link between the increase in sexless males (or “incels”) and the delay of marriage. 

6. Jason Whiting, "Eight Reasons Women Stay in Abusive Relationships" (October 2016)
Dr. Whiting summarized his research based on hundreds of Twitter posts by women using the hashtag #WhyIStayed to identify the eight most common reasons women give for staying in abusive romantic relationships.

5. Lyman Stone, “Baby Bust: Fertility is Declining the Most Among Minority Women” (May 2018)
In this research brief, Lyman Stone showed that minority women in American are experiencing the greatest fertility declines. 

4. Nicholas H. Wolfinger, "Counterintuitive Trends in the Link Between Premarital Sex and Marital Stability" (June 2016)
Dr. Wolfinger used data from three waves of the National Survey of Family Growth to explore how premarital sex affects marital stability, particularly in light of changing American attitudes and sexual behavior. 

3. Nicholas H. Wolfinger, "Want to Avoid Divorce? Wait to Get Married But Not Too Long" (June 2015)
In his third appearance on our top 10 of all time, Dr. Wolfinger examined the "ideal" age to get married, finding that those who tie the knot after their early 30s are now more likely to divorce than those who marry in their late 20s.

2. Linda Nielsen, "How Dads Affect Their Daughters Into Adulthood" (June 2014) 
In one of our earliest blog posts, Wake Forest University professor Linda Nielsen explained how involved fathers can increase their daughters' chances of educational, relationship, and career success.   

1. Wendy Wang, “Who Cheats More? The Demographics of Infidelity in America” (January 2018)
With over one million pageviews and counting, this research brief by IFS research director Wendy Wang presents a demographic portrait of cheating Americans.