State of the Family in Missouri

The United States Family Belonging Index is 46 percent, with a corresponding Family Rejection Index of 54 percent, based on 2008-2012 data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. The action of parents determines the Family Belonging or Rejection Index within a nation, region, state, or racial or ethnic group—whether they marry and belong to each other, or whether they reject one another through divorce or other means. Rejection leaves children without married parents committed to one another and to their children.

The Index of Family Belonging is determined by the fraction of children aged 15 to 17 in a given area who live with both their biological parents, who have been married since before or around the time of their birth.

Missouri has a Family Belonging Index of 43.9 percent. In other words, 43.9 percent of Missouri teenagers aged 15 to 17 have lived with their always-married parents since their birth, whereas 56.1 percent of these adolescents were raised in a non-intact family. Missouri ranks 33rd on the state ranking of the Index of Belonging and Rejection.¹⁾

See Effects of Family Structure on Policy Outcomes

Fraction of Families Intact

Fraction of teenage out-of-wedlock births out of all births

Fraction of 19- to 20-year-olds who are high school graduates

Fraction of 25- to 54-year-old men working

Average earnings per 25- to 54-year-old male

Fraction of households owning a home

See Effects of Family Structure on Poverty

Fraction of the overall population below poverty Fraction of 25- to 54-year-old females below the poverty line Fraction of minors below the poverty line

See Effects of Family Structure on Government Dependency and Effects of Welfare on Families

Fraction of households receiving food stamps Average TANF and State Welfare Transfers per 25- to 54-year-old females Average Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) per 25- to 54-year-olds Average Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) per 25- to 54-year-old male Average Supplemental Security Income (SSI) per 25- to 54-year-old male Average Supplemental Security Income (SSI) per 25- to 54-year-old female

See Effects of Family Structure on Healthcare Coverage

Fraction of 25- to 54-year-olds receiving public healthcare Fraction of minors receiving public healthcare Fraction of 25- to 54-year-olds covered by private healthcare Fraction of minors covered by private healthcare