Research in Mali by the UM’s Beverly Strassmann demonstrates that children fare as well in nuclear families as in extended families.  Strassmann, a professor of anthropology and a faculty associate at the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR), says “There’s a naïve belief that villages raise children communally, when in reality children are raised by their own families and their survival depends critically on the survival of their mothers.”  Read more of the story here or view the podcast.

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