Is the blindingly obvious always true?

There is a popular, but perhaps erroneous belief that studies often tell us nothing we couldn’t have worked out for ourselves, but possibly we didn’t and it is useful to consider what science and statistics have to tell us.

It may be for example that many people would deem it obvious that children brought up in a traditional mother, father and children family structure would prosper better than those from a single parent family or a nonconventional two mothers, two fathers, or other combination family.

However a major study on family life by Susan Golombok for the University of Cambridge rather skews this view, she concludes that, children are most likely to flourish in families that provide love , security and support, whatever the their family structure; and that prejudice and discrimination are bad for children, whatever their family structure, “Of all the factors in a child’s upbringing it is the quality of family relationships, the support of the community and the prevailing attitudes of society in which they live, that matter most.”

I certainly don’t know if this conclusion is true, though it is based upon 35 years of research, which must add weight to the argument. This study it does challenge some of the views which many would think so manifestly true heaps, perhaps in the same way that it was once self-evident that the world was flat, and now heaps of us judge otherwise.

Lee Dalton

Rylands Nook,

Fairview Road,

Weymouth