SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) – The Sutherland Institute unveiled a new study focusing on Utah families during the week.

It looks at how family structure can impact the economy, social life and overall happiness.

“We wanted to look into how Utah families are doing, and specifically the connections between how Utah families are doing and the health and well-being of our economy, because we think there are some deep connections there and this report establishes some of those basic facts and relationships between families and economic outcomes,” said VP of Policy Derek Monson.

Monson says the report showed Utah is doing well compared to the rest of the country, but it also points out some areas of concern.

One of those concerns is that marriage and childbearing rates are going down.

“There are a lot of factors. There’s a lot of cost increases for young families nowadays, so having a child is less affordable than it used to be. There’s a lot of pushes to put off marriage for things like economic well-being, you know, ‘You should wait to get married until you are firmly established in your career.’ There are a lot of cultural factors is what I’m getting at, and those combined with the economic factors lead to these outcomes,” said Monson.

He also says there are things that can be done to help.

“We think we can take economic measures through, say, tax policies and economic policies that could lower the cost of living for families and allow them to fulfill their wishes and aspirations when it comes to their own families,” he said.