Growing up with Siblings Lowers Risk of Divorce

If you have been lucky enough to grow up with multiple siblings, it lowers the risk of filing for divorce later in life. That finding comes from a new study that was conducted by researchers at Ohio State University, which also finds that the risk of divorce drops with the number of siblings that the person has.

The researchers found that there was no difference in the divorce risk of a person with just one or two siblings, and only child. There was no difference in the risk of divorce among these people. However, the picture changed dramatically when more siblings were added to the picture. When the researchers compared children brought up in large families with those who were only children, they found a significant gap in the likelihood of divorce.

This difference in divorce rates depending on the size of the family is not exactly surprising to Los Angeles divorce lawyers. If you have been brought up in a large family, you are used to frequently sharing space and attention with other siblings in the family, and will probably find it easier to navigate the sometimes difficult and muddled waters after marriage. You're probably more likely to compromise, and more open to looking at another person's point of view. That makes for a more successful marriage and a lower risk of divorce.

The researchers however were surprised at how significant the difference was between people, who have large families, and those who were only children or had just one or two siblings. The research was based on more than 57,000 adults across the United States.

Delayed Licenses Allow Teenagers to Bypass GDL Laws

According to a AAA study, the number of teenagers who choose to delay getting their driver’s license is increasing. That means that these teenagers will be able to bypass the provisions of the Graduated Driver Licensing Program when they do decide to get a license. That raises questions about the safety of these drivers, considering that they're able to speed ahead towards a driver’s license without going through any of the normal steps that are included in the California graduated driver’s licensing program.

California has some of the toughest Graduated Drivers Licensing laws in the country. Those laws establish strong guidelines and set restrictions for young novice drivers for night time driving and driving with teenage passengers in the car, besides other restrictions. Many accidents involving teenage motorists occur during nighttime, or when teenage motorists are driving with other passengers of the same age in the car. GDL programs have been widely credited for a drop in the number of teen driver car accident fatalities across the country over the past few years. 

However, in the case of a teen who decides to delay getting a driver’s license till after he finishes high school, many of those restrictions may no longer apply, because he may not be covered under the Graduated Driver Licensing program. An 18-year-old teenage driver may be able to get a license without going through any of the nighttime driving or passenger restrictions. That means that he doesn't have to go through the various steps in the process of obtaining a license, and is not subjected to any of the normal safeguards that the Graduated Driver Licensing program provides.

That could be dangerous, and therefore, the AAA is calling on all states that have graduated driver’s licensing programs to include older novice drivers also under this program.

New Bill to Help Employees Fight Age Discrimination

A new piece of legislation that has recently been introduced aims to modify a Supreme Court decision that made it very difficult for older workers to prove that they were discriminated against based on their age.

The bill is called the Protecting Older Workers against Discrimination Act, and has been sponsored by Senator’s, Tom Harkin, Democrat-Iowa, Chuck Grassley Republican-Iowa and Patrick Leahy Democrat-Vermont. The bill is designed to modify a critical Supreme Court decision that came in 2009 in Gross vs. FBL Financial Services Inc.

Prior to that Supreme Court decision, if a worker could show that there was at least one other motivating factor in a discrimination-related action in the workplace, then the employer had to prove that he would have taken the very same action even in the absence of the discrimination. However, after the Supreme Court 2009 decision, employees are now required to prove that the employer would not have taken the adverse action had it not been for the   employee’s age. That means a significantly higher burden of proof on the employee to prove age discrimination.

This makes it harder for older workers to be able to make their case when they want to sue their employer. The number of lawsuits being filed by older workers is only likely to increase as the senior workforce in the country increases.

The incidence of workplace-related age bias is especially high in California’s Silicon Valley, where employees in their 40s are judged to be aged, and therefore behind the times. According to some estimates, by 2016, as many as one- third of the American workforce will be above the age of 50.