What is the Success Sequence and Why Does It Work?

Families, communities, and nations are stronger when the rising generation follows the success sequence. According to social scientists and reported by Lois M. Collins, the “success sequence” contains some important steps that must be taken in a certain order. She wrote the following in her article published in the Deseret News. 

Millennials can add better mental health to the list of reasons they should hit certain life milestones in a particular order, according to new research from the Institute for Family Studies.

The “success sequence” – three steps that include graduating from high school, getting a job, marrying before having kids, in that order – provides a “huge boost to mental health,” according to Wendy Wang, the institute’s director of research, and Samuel T. Wilkinson, an associate professor of psychiatry at Yale University.

While the sequence has been touted in a lot of research as key to avoiding poverty and reducing the risk of divorce, the study is possibly the first to look at the impact on mental health, Wilkinson, also an associate director of the Yale Depression Research Program, told Deseret News.

Focusing on young adults born between 1980 and 1984, who were surveyed in their mid-30s, Wang said they studied three groups of millennials: those who married before having children, those who had children before or without marrying and those who never married and didn’t have children. Their analysis showed:

·         The vast majority (97%) of millennials who followed the success sequence were not in poverty as adults and 9 out of 10 were at least middle class.

·         Mental distress drops as each sequence step is completed. While 30% of young adults who missed the sequence entirely are distressed, the same is true of just 9% of those who completed the three steps.

The report, “The Success Sequence and Millennial Mental Health,” finds that young adults who are married when they have children enjoy better mental health than those who have a baby outside of or before marriage. They are also happier and have better mental health than those who never married and don’t have children. It says those who are married before having children are not as apt to experience “high emotional distress” by their mid-30s (12%), compared to those who had a baby first (19%). And more of the sequence followers report being healthy (65% vs. 52%) and feeling happy at least most of the time (82% vs. 74%).

“So it looks like the people who had children before marriage or outside marriage, their mental health and physical overall wellbeing is kind of similar to the ones who have never married and are childless. The group that stands out is the one who married before having children,” Wang said.

The report comes in the midst of a mental health and loneliness crisis in the U.S. Per the report, “Suicide, anxiety, depression and drug overdose deaths have all risen to record levels. Younger generations have been hit especially hard during this crisis. Millennial men and women experience increased anxiety and depression compared to previous generations at the same age.”

While acknowledging the impact of financial well-being on mental health, Wang and Wilkinson said that’s certainly not the whole story. They point out that even when they controlled for income, the findings on the success sequence boosting mental health held up. “The sequence remains a significant factor in predicting your adult mental health,” they wrote. The odds of experiencing high emotional distress by their mid-30s are reduced by about 50% for young adults who have completed the three steps of the success sequence, after controlling for their income and a range of background factors including gender, race and family background.” …

Mental distress is significantly higher for women who had children before marriage and are now divorced. One-third of them report mental distress. About 21% of married women who do not have children report high mental distress, as do 23% of never-married childless women. The lowest level of distress is found among mothers who had their children after marrying and who are still married, at 12%.

The study found those who married after having children are about twice as likely to divorce or separate by their mid-30s, compared to those who married first (27% vs. 14%).

They also found a gender gap when it comes to mental health among the millennials. “Women are consistently more likely than men to report experiencing emotional distress,” they wrote. “The gender gap is the largest among millennials who missed all three steps of the success sequence (38% vs. 22%). But even among those who followed all three steps, women are still more likely than men to experience higher emotional distress (12% vs. 7%).”

Wilkinson said the finding showing that “women have more emotional distress is repeated across different cultures and there are likely several factors at play, including hormonal shifts.” Wang and Wilkinson also noted “a racial gap in mental health. White young adults who did things in a different order than the success sequence experience more anxiety and depression than their Black or Hispanic peers, while there’s no statistically significant difference by race for those who get a high school diploma or better, a job, then marry and have kids, as the sequence prescribes.”

Parents and other adults have a responsibility to teach the rising generation about the “success sequence.” We should make sure that they understand that following the “success sequence” will help them to avoid poverty, reduce the risk of divorce, and have better mental health. I know that we can strengthen families, communities, states, and nations by teaching correct principles, and the “success sequence” has been proven to be a correct principle.