by Brad Wilcox and David Bass
Tennessee has emerged as one of the nation’s top destinations for families — and for good reason. The Volunteer State is a wonderful place to work and raise a family. But while many trend lines are positive, there are some storm clouds on the horizon when it comes to marriage, family formation, and work.
Consider that over the past three decades, the percentage of prime-age men not in the labor force rose by 44 percent — from 8.6 percent to 12.4 percent. This is in keeping with national trend lines showing that men in their prime working years are increasingly disconnected from the discipline and value of work.
And in 2021, only 57 percent of children were born to married parents in 2021 — below the national average of 60 percent. Likewise, when it comes to marriage, fewer than one in two adults in Tennessee are now married, with only 49 percent of adults married.
All this matters because work and marriage are two of the three keys to success in America. The research tells us that young adults who get a good education, work full-time, and marry before having children are much more likely to have a shot at the American Dream. Specifically, 97 percent of young adults who get at least a high school degree, work full-time in their twenties, and marry before having children avoid poverty in their late twenties and thirties — and more than 85 percent reach the middle class or higher. Scholars call this the “success sequence.”
So, the bottom line is that Tennessee has the potential and opportunity to do better when it comes to boosting the fortunes of work and marriage in the state. State lawmakers can pass policies that would make the Volunteer State a leader in America when it comes to working and raising a family.
That is the thesis of a new research report from the Institute for Family Studies and the Ethics and Public Policy Center. The report contains five policy recommendations for Tennessee. One of the most important of these is ensuring that young people across the state learn about the three-pronged “success sequence”: get at least a high-school degree, work full-time in their 20s, and marry before having children.
Young people deserve to know about the success sequence and how it can transform their lives. It’s not unreasonable to envision a future where all young people in Tennessee know the financial and emotional wellbeing associated with properly sequencing education, work, and marriage.
Toward that end, we envision two primary ways this could be accomplished: Incorporating the success sequence into schools across Tennessee and a public service announcement campaign on the benefits of the sequence.
On the first goal, lawmakers should direct the Tennessee Department of Education to require that state education includes a family life standard curriculum. This curriculum would teach the truth about how the success sequence is linked to less poverty and greater prosperity; sequencing marriage before children is linked to greater family and financial stability; and how a stable, married family is linked to better educational, social, and emotional outcomes for children and adults alike. In fact, the data tell us that one of the best predictors of happiness for men and women is a good marriage.
On the second point, Tennessee lawmakers should fund an ongoing media campaign informing young adults about the value of the success sequence for their future. This would entail compelling videos, online information, and links to local resources for couples seeking quality premarital counseling. Studies tell us that quality campaigns like this can make a real difference in re-orienting young adult relationship behavior.
Taken together, these steps would go a long way toward educating Tennessee’s youth on the importance of the success sequence. This campaign could solidify the Volunteer State’s reputation as not just an economic powerhouse, but as a state where young adults are being prepared to forging strong and stable families.
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Brad Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, is the Future of Freedom Fellow at the Institute for Family Studies (IFS). David Bass is the director of communications at IFS.
