Have Kids, Move Rightward

This is not a surprise.

A series of four studies by researchers from the United States, Chile, Australia, South Korea, Poland, Japan, Denmark, and Serbia has concluded that “[t]he motivation to care for children is consequently among the fundamental drivers of human behaviour, but its power to shape social attitudes and cognition is under-appreciated.”

The studies revealed “cross-cultural and experimental evidence suggesting that parental care motivation leads to increases in socially conservative attitudes, and that parenthood is associated with social conservatism around the globe.”

The report lends credibility to the colloquial use of such phrases as, “You’ll understand when you have children of your own,” and directly calls into question the link between conservatism and wisdom through age, versus conservatism as a result of parenthood.

Conversely, researchers noted that failure to have children necessarily leads to a greater acceptance of socially liberal or degenerate behaviors, such as support for abortion, homosexuality, sexual promiscuity, or infidelity/adultery....

Not true in all cases, but we've seen it happen, too.