Conclusion

Relationship education programs do little to deliver on their original promise of addressing financial poverty, turning the tide on state divorce rates, or increasing state marriage rates, but participants see their relationships and their children benefiting nonetheless. An underlying reason is because these programs seem to address factors related to parents’ risk for social poverty—unclear expectations for their new social roles, techniques for carrying out these roles successfully, and trust in themselves and one another. Social Poverty offers a set of recommendations for social policy and relationship education programs. This includes the idea that policy must be constructed using the lens of social poverty, such as by designing programs to promote dignity and human connection.