Fractured Relationships and Their Impact on Our Personal Lives and Faith

Robert Hall, a Dallas businessman and best-selling author, who has made the study of what makes relationships work, believes that relationships are in crisis. Financial, social, psychological situations, exacerbated by the economy and disintegrating relationships are causing chaos. Broken relationships have a high cost on our social and economic welfare.

Joining host Dennis McCuistion Are Guests:

• Robert E. Hall – Author: This Land Of Strangers: The Relationship Crisis That Imperils Home, Work, Politics and Faith
• Ami Moore, PhD – Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of North Texas
• Mahmoud Sadri, PhD – Professor of Sociology, Affiliated Professor of Women’s Studies, Texas Woman’s University

The problem is universal. Dr. Ami Moore, a Fulbright scholar, says she sees the problem as universal, not just a North American problem. Recently back from extended research studies in West Africa, she talks of how changing relationships are causing new challenges as families drift further from their native roots. She says, “No-one teaches us to manage changes, we learn on the job.” Many of these changes are negative and particularly affect those with reduced incomes. She sees increased changes in male and female relationships, with marriages no longer lasting for the duration of a couple’s life.”

Left to Right: Mahmoud Sadri, Phd, Dennis McCuistion, Ami Moore, Phd, Robert E. Hall

In the United States women are becoming more economically independent and less willing to accept relationship challenges or stay in poor relationships. Robert Hall tells us that for the first time in history, in 2012, 50% of children born in the US are born to single moms; their children face a poverty level 5 times that of their peers in two “parent” households. In friend relationships, there have been decreases in the number of friends people now have- from an average of three to now two, and the number of people without any close friends has now tripled.

Yet, Dr. Mahmoud Sadri states that he does not see a relationship crisis as such. Yes, we are in challenging times yet he sees it as a time of dynamic equilibrium- and that there is hope for the future. While we do not live in a nuclear society any longer there are new ways of relating.

The good news is that there is a 38% increase in the amount of time parents are spending with their kids. And our social media experts, Terry Brock and Gina Carr, who join us for a brief excerpt, say, we have to do things differently. They comment, “social media is a wonderful way to connect, it leverages touch and interaction.”

Join us for a brisk dialogue on the challenges facing relationships today and what we can do about it, and let’s keep talking about things that matter with people who care…

Niki Nicastro McCuistion, CSP
Executive Producer/ Producer
Management Analyst, Speaker, Consultant
nikin@nikimccuistion.com
(214) 394-6794

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2022 – 04.14.13