In a new ranking system created by the Center for Christian Virtue and the Institute for Family Studies called the Family Structure Index, Tennessee ranked 20th for the strongest family culture in the country. The Index is a measure of the most important family structure trends in the US, focusing on each state’s share of adult residents who are married, have children, and raise those children together through their high school years. Index scores higher than 60 indicate that the state is above the national average in at least one of the components. Tennessee must do better, as we barely rose above the norm with an Index score of 62.8, signaling that our state has serious work to do when it comes to creating a pro-family culture.
 
In Tennessee, 57.7% of “prime age” adults (25 to 54 years old) are married, and only 46.7% of children ages 15 to 17 are living with their married parents. Tennessee’s fertility rate of 1.73, which is the average number of lifetime births per woman, is far below the requisite rate of 2.1 needed to maintain a steady population.
 


Tennessee – and the United States as a whole – can do better. Even Utah, the state with the most pro-family culture according to the CCV Index, has a 1.85 fertility rate, and only 68% of prime-age adults are married.
 
At FACT, we promote God’s design for marriage and family not only because it’s part of His perfect plan for creation, but because research has proven society is better off when marriage between one man and one woman is recognized as a common good.
“Seldom in the social sciences has there been such a strong and consistent pattern of findings than the one that marriage, as our keystone institution, is strongly linked to the welfare of children, adults, and the country itself,”  Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute Brad Wilcox wrote.
 
In modern society, marriage is sometimes viewed as “old-fashioned” or “restrictive.” Many adults believe marriage will hinder them from achieving happiness and success. The truth is that traditional marriage and family, in conjunction with faith in God, are the keys to true life-long fulfillment, happiness, and well-being.
 
Wilcox continued, “More than 50 years of social science and medical research generally demonstrate that married men and women live longer, have healthier lives, earn and save more money, recover more quickly and successfully from illness, steer clear of trouble with the law, are less likely to attempt and commit suicide, and are more likely to be happy. Indeed, on most measures of financial, physical, social, and emotional well-being, men, women, and children in stable married homes do better.”
 
The benefits of children being raised by their married parents are indisputable and cannot be replicated by single-parent families, cohabitating families or even step-families. Studies show that children have the highest chance of succeeding in life when raised by their married parents.
 
“The truth is, no other institution protects children the way marriage does. If states want to address poverty, improve outcomes for children, and do more than simply react to higher rates of criminal behavior in communities with broken homes, they need to encourage raising children within marriage to the child’s other parent,” Patience Sunne, the engagement director at Them Before Us, a nonprofit dedicated to defending children’s rights, wrote.
 
Tennessee’s policy leaders should focus on promoting a culture that celebrates God’s design for marriage & family and recognize these age-old institutions as a common good for society. The benefits of increasing the number of married adults and children raised by their married parents will be far-reaching for individuals and the nation as a whole.