Get Married At This Age If You Don't Want A Divorce
Keep this in mind when you're thinking about taking the next step.
Majdanski / Shutterstock By Sujeiry Gonzalez
Back in the day, women were married off as teenagers and remained with their husbands 'til death do them part. Well, times have changed, and thank goodness.
At 18, you shouldn’t have to tend to a home and birth multiple children. Instead, you should find yourself and focus on your future. If not, you may end up divorced. But there are so many options.
There is nothing pressuring anyone to marry young and have children right away. Now, there is more of a societal push for everyone to get a good college education and have that financially stable job so you can raise your children in the best way possible.
As dreams of marriage have shifted in age groups, it gives people more time to mature and better themselves. There are even ways to divorce if you aren't happy. So, no one is stuck in a relationship they don't want to be in anymore.
But for marriage to work, major milestones must be met and, because of that, there is a certain age range that is best for everyone to get married if you don't want to get divorced.
A 2015 study totally agrees, stating that women who marry before the age of 26 are more likely to split up with their spouse.
Specifically, if you marry between the ages of 15 and 20, there's a much higher divorce rate than if you marry later in life. But don’t wait too long to tie the knot as women over 45 also find that there's trouble in wedded paradise.
In 2018, the United States Census put out that people are waiting until later in their lives to get married. Men are now marrying closer to around the age of 30 years old and women around the age of 28.
Back in 1978, 59 percent of adults between the ages of 18 and 34 years old were married. But now, about 29 percent of that age range is married. This is a 30 percent decrease and an indication that people are not getting married at as young of an age as they did over 40 years ago.
But lots of younger people are living together more and more before they marry. In 2018, 15 percent of adults between the ages of 25 and 34 lived with a partner they were not married to. This form of cohabitation is increasing and becoming more prevalent in society.
This is leading to a decrease in the number of younger adults who are married.
This rise in the average age adults are getting married has many factors. Lots of people are determined to get their college degrees and have financial stability before they marry.
In the end, working on yourself should trump a marital union in your early 20s. Just make sure you have it together so that when you're between the ages of 26 and 45, you will be ready to settle down.
Sujeiry Gonzalez is a writer with a focus on relationships. She's writing her first book, 'Love Trips: The What Not To Do Relationship Book.'
Editor's Note: This article was originally posted in June 2016 and was updated with the latest information.