What if we told you that 97% of young adults who first finish high school, then enter the workforce, and then marry before having children avoid poverty in adulthood? Individuals who complete those steps in that order are all but guaranteed that they will be financially stable later in life. It turns out that following God’s design for marriage and family is not only morally sound, but statistically the most sure-fire way to achieve success in life. The Institute for Family Studies (IFS) found that completing those four steps in order, termed the “Success Sequence,” has incredible implications later in life. Tennessee lawmakers want students to learn that.
 
Last week, the Tennessee Senate passed a bill, HB 0178, that would require family life curriculum to provide “instruction and evidence” on the Success Sequence through age-appropriate lessons regarding the “positive personal and societal outcomes” associated with completing all four steps in order. If passed by the House, the bill would take effect on July 1, 2026, and apply to the 2026-2027 school year.
 
“The order of marriage and parenthood plays an important role in young adults’ overall well-being,” IFS found. “Marrying before having children is not only linked to a lower risk of emotional distress but also to better general health and overall happiness. Millennials who married before having children are [35%] less likely to experience high emotional distress by their mid-30s compared with those who had a baby first (12% vs. 19%). They are also [25%] more likely to report being in great health (65% vs. 52%) .”
 
In addition to the findings from the IFS study, the Tennessee bill provided the following facts as justification for informing students about the Success Sequence:

• Couples who have children within marriage have higher family incomes and lower poverty rates than their unmarried counterparts.
• Children raised by married parents are more likely to flourish compared to children raised in single-parent families.
• Children raised in stable, married-parent families are more likely to excel in school and generally earn higher grade point averages than children who are not.
• Children raised by married parents are about twice as likely to graduate from college than children who are not.
• Children not raised in a home with married parents are twice as likely to end up in jail or prison before reaching thirty years of age.
• Children raised by a single parent are more than three times as likely to live in poverty than children raised by married parents.

Students deserve to know that their best chance at succeeding in life and having a strong, healthy family lies in following God’s design for marriage and family, which is replicated in the Success Sequence.
 
The bill explained: “Among millennials who finished high school, entered the workforce, and were married before having children, [97%] did not live in poverty when they reached adulthood.”
 
Way back in 2012, our organization provided to the Legislature the very bill that rewrote the entire family life curriculum in state law to be the most abstinence-based law in the land.  Still available today, it also provided parents a unique right to sue any third party who should come into a school and teach anything that violates this law. 
 
HB 0178 is a well-thought-out addition to this curriculum.  We view it as another step towards restoring a culture that embraces God’s design for marriage and family. It is no surprise that creating a solid foundation based on a Christian worldview, following the guidance established in scripture, provides a path most likely to end in success. Schools who teach students these four basic steps of the Success Sequence can ensure, with almost 100% accuracy, that Tennessee’s future adults will be financially stable, happy, and have a strong family unit.
 
HB 0178 is an important and necessary bill – we hope Tennessee House members agree