Dear Friends,
In this newsletter issue, we highlight new research from Notre Dame economics graduate student and SFRI affiliate Emily Davis that examines how age verification laws affect online pornography use – a timely question as policymakers grapple with how to protect children in digital spaces.
We also share recent media appearances of SFRI researchers; updates on relevant state and federal policy action; and data on marriage trends. Our "What We're Reading" section highlights external research and data that has caught our attention, including a new survey of parents, an NBER working paper linking iPhone usage to a decline in teen births, and a JEC report on demographic challenges, among others.
As always, we welcome your feedback and encourage you to share this newsletter with anyone who might find it useful. Thank you for following the work of the Strengthening Families Research Initiative (SFRI)!
Sincerely,
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| The Effects of Age Verification Laws on Online Pornography Use |
Emily Davis (Graduate Student Affiliate), Matthew Brown, and Devin G. Pope
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Family Focus: Starting with Louisiana in 2023, 25 U.S. states have implemented age verification laws aimed at restricting minor access to internet pornography sites. This research finds that these laws have led to a modest reduction in overall time spent on pornography websites – for every 100 hours spent on porn websites before the laws took effect, porn usage was reduced by 10 hours following the regulations. Many users continued to access porn sites through website noncompliance with the laws, VPN evasion, and substitution to noncompliant websites. These findings imply that the effectiveness of policies aimed at protecting minors online depends critically on the ease of technological circumvention and the availability of substitutes.
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Why birth rates are falling everywhere all at once |
Financial Times - Melissa Kearney (Faculty Director)
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| Fathers spent more time at home during COVID, but it didn’t last |
Earth - Lee Gettler (Faculty Affiliate)
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Childcare Disruptions Cost U.S. Economy Up to $70 Billion Per Year, Study Finds |
New York Sun - Chloe Gibbs (Faculty Affiliate)
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Podcast Interview: How will falling fertility rates hurt the Economy? |
Financial Times' the Economics Show - Melissa Kearney (Faculty Director)
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We track evolving policy debates and reforms with meaningful implications for families across the country.
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👪 States Expand Paid Family and Medical Leave |
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Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger signed the state's first paid family and medical leave law in May, creating a public insurance system that provides workers with paid leave for a new child, serious illness, or family caregiving. Virginia joins thirteen states and the District of Columbia that now have mandatory paid leave. Ohio may be the next state to follow. Bipartisan legislation introduced earlier this year would establish a similar program offering up to 14 weeks of benefits.
Virginia's Paid Leave | Ohio's Paid Leave Proposal | More on Paid Leave in the U.S.
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🥕 Federal Cuts to WIC Raise Concerns for Young Families |
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The House has passed a budget bill that would cut $200 million from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Estimates show that the proposed cut would take away over $141 million in fruit and vegetable benefits from nearly 5.4 million low-income mothers, infants, and young children. Congress fully funded WIC at $8.2 billion for fiscal year 2026, rejecting similar proposed cuts in 2025. The bill now moves to the Senate, where its prospects remain uncertain.
More on the changes to WIC
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🤸♀️ Congress Moves to Redefine Childhood Independence and Child Neglect |
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Bipartisan legislation introduced in the House in May 2026 would clarify the federal definition of child neglect to ensure parents cannot be investigated or penalized for allowing children to engage in unsupervised, age-appropriate activities like walking to a park, playing outside, or coming home alone from school. The Act would also require HHS to study how states can better support parents in allowing childhood independence, and direct federal child welfare grants to train CPS staff to distinguish genuine neglect from reasonable parenting decisions.
Thirteen states have already passed similar "reasonable childhood independence" laws.
Read the Bill | More on the proposal
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Research: What Parents of Young Kids Want: Insights from the 2026 National Parent Survey |
New America - Alyson Silkowski, Kelly Bidwell and Amira Choueiki Boland
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Data: Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2025 – Living Arrangements and Care Work |
Federal Reserve Board of Governors
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Research: Cash Transfers in the Perinatal Period and Investigations of Infant Maltreatment |
JAMA Pediatrics - Sumit Agarwal, H. Luke Shaefer and Samiul Jubaed
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Research: Is the iPhone Birth Control? Causal Evidence from AT&T’s 2007–2011 Carrier Monopoly |
NBER - Caitlin K. Meyers and Ezekiel Hooper
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Research: The Intergenerational Imbalance and Growing Dependence on a Shrinking Workforce |
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