Prof. June Carbone Co-authors Opinion in New Pittsburgh Courier About Possible Effects of Marriage Resurgence

Professor June Carbone co-authored an opinion piece in the New Pittsburgh Courier about how a possible resurgence in marriages in the U.S. won’t necessarily produce the benefits as expected. Several books and websites are predicting a post-pandemic increase in marriage engagements in 2024, and the so-called “marriage promotion movement,” has for decades claimed that marriage supports children’s well-being and combats poverty. But Professor Carbone and her co-authors called into question this premise by writing, “We are law professors who have written extensively about family structure and poverty. We, and others, have found that there is almost no evidence that federal programs that promote marriage have made a difference in encouraging two-parent households. That’s in large part because they forgo effective solutions that directly address poverty for measures that embrace the culture wars.”