What is the American dream? It is a “better, richer, and happier life for all our citizens of every rank,” in the words of James Truslow Adams, the historian who coined the term just over a century ago. Adams knew it would be hard to sustain the dream. That is why every generation must strive, he wrote, to “save the dream from the forces which appeared to be overwhelming and dispelling it.”¹

In our day, we know that ordinary citizens’ faith in the American dream is diminished. A recent Wall Street Journal poll found only one in three of U.S. adults feels the American dream still “holds true” compared to half of those polled in 2012.² There are good reasons for this. For many Americans, life is not “better, richer, and happier.” In this century, “deaths of despair”—with ordinary Americans dying because of suicide, drug overdoses, or alcohol poisoning—have surged, even as reports of hope and happiness among the American people have fallen.³

Although the precarious state of the dream can be attributed in part to changes in the nation’s economy, one of the biggest, unheralded forces “dispelling” the American dream is the falling

fortunes of the American family. Recent research from Gallup and the University of Chicago, for instance, suggests that the nation’s retreat from marriage is one of the most important factors driving deaths of despair up and happiness down across America.⁴

This research could not be more relevant for the state of Ohio. Right now, the American dream is out of reach for too many men, women, and children across Ohio. Tens of thousands of men and women in the state have lost their lives to suicide, drugs, and alcohol in the last decade, such that the state ranks third in deaths of despair.⁵ As Figure 1 (page IV) indicates, 17% of Ohio children are poor, putting the state in the top third (15th) of states for child poverty. And the state ranks in the bottom quintile when it comes to hope.⁶ So, when it comes to guaranteeing a “better, richer, and happier life” for all families, Ohio clearly has a ways to go.

One key to saving the dream in Ohio is to strengthen and stabilize family life across the state. This is especially important because Ohio ranks 29th on the new Family Structure Index from Center for Christian Virtue (CCV) and the Institute for Family Studies (IFS). The index, which is based on trends in marriage, family stability, and fertility and is introduced for the first time in this report, indicates that the state falls below average on key indicators of family strength.

Ohio’s below-average standing on the Family Structure Index matters because this report will show how closely the fortunes of Ohio families are tied to educational success, poverty, and the emotional well-being of children across the state, how strong families are tied to safer streets, how closely connected economic mobility for poor children is to the state of the unions in their communities across the state, and how falling fertility imperils the demographic future of the state, as Ohio media outlets have recently noted.⁷ Moreover, given the importance of the family for children, adults, and the state as a whole, this report from Center for Christian Virtue and the Institute for Family Studies also spells out a series of public policies and civic measures the legislature, businesses, churches, and families can advance to renew the foundations of marriage and family across the state. We do so because we want every Ohioan—men, women, and especially children—to have a shot at the “better, richer, and happier life” that the American dream offers.

1. David Leonhardt, Ours Was the Shining Future: The Story of the American Dream. (Random House, 2023): xii.
2. Rachel Wolfe, “The American Dream Feels Out of Reach for Most.” Wall Street Journal. (August 2024).
3. Carol Graham, “America’s crisis of despair.” Brookings Institution. (January 2021).
   Sam Peltzman, “The Socio-Political Demography of Happiness.” U Chicago Stigler Center. (October 2023).
4. Peltzman, “The Socio-Political Demography.” Jonathan Rothwell, “Married People are Living Their Best Lives.” Institute for Family Studies. (February 2024).
5. Susan Hayes, David Radley, et al., “States of Despair.” The Commonwealth Fund. (August 2018).
6. “The Geography of Hope and Desperation in America: An Interactive Vulnerability Indicator.” Brookings Institution. January 2023.
7. Mark Williams, “Ohio’s population projections are dire. Why are so many counties left behind?” Columbus Dispatch. October 2024. https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/local/2024/10/13/ohio-projections-show-most-counties-will-lose-population-by-2050/74710065007/;
   Samantha Hendrickson, “Ohio’s baby bust: Why young Buckeyes are having kids at the lowest rate in history,” Columbus Dispatch. October 2024.  https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/local/2024/10/20/ohios-birth-rate-is-low-why-arent-buckeyes-having-kids/75071740007/