A report commissioned by the Institute for American Values determined that a representative sample of 20 undergraduate textbooks dealing with family issues were heavily biased against the institution of marriage. Potential costs of marriage—particularly to women—received exaggerated treatment, its benefits to children received far less attention, and the complex social functions of marriage as a universal institution were virtually ignored. The often critical tone reserved for marriage was consistently reversed when discussing alternative family structures, with no attention drawn to elevated levels child abuse in single-parent families or sexual abuse in stepfamilies.

For example, Judy Root Aulette's Changing Families devotes almost 3 out of 14 chapters to marriage: "Battering and Marital Rape," "Divorce and Remarriage," and simply, "Marriage." The only academic debate concerning the function of marriage Aulette presents is that between feminists and Marxists over the precise source and nature of its oppressiveness. An extended discussion follows over whether, given "the problematic character of marriage," allowing gays to marry would constitute "the problem or the solution."

†