RECENT PUBLIC opinion polls reveal a curious inconsistency in American attitudes toward the family. Most people in this country believe that the family as an institution is in serious trouble; at the same time, they’re certain that their own families are doing fine. A November 1991 survey for Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company produced typically contradictory results. When asked to assess the strength of “family values” in the society at large, survey respondents painted a gloomy portrait: 65 percent felt that those values were “declining,” with heavy majorities agreeing with the statement “It’s harder to be a parent than it used to be.”