Early Marriages Most Likely End in Divorce, Essay Example

We can start by defining early marriage as teen marriage. Although those in their twenties are not necessarily mature as they or society take them to be — I heard one middle-age mother speak sarcastically of young adults who “get to be twenty five and think they’re grown up” — marriage in that age-group is so common that it can hardly be considered early.

Next, we can discover whether teen marriage really does most likely end in divorce. If we are talking about Americans then the answer is yes. According to a 2013 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) survey,[1] on average people who married between the ages of 15–22 had a divorce rate of 58.4%. But here’s a telling fact: after five years, 74.9% of such marriages were intact. In other words, teen marriage does not most likely end in teen divorce.

Implied in the title of this paper is that early (teen) marriage should always be avoided if they inevitably end in divorce. It sounds logical on the face of it. However, divorce rates are generally high overall.

The BLS survey reports that of early marriages after 15 years, an average of 50.9% (ages 15–22) were still intact, against 78.4% of those who had college degrees and married between the ages of 29 and 34. But of the 15–22 set who finished college, 62.4% were still married! Meanwhile, 54.3% of the 29–34 set who did not finish high school degree were divorced.

Arguably, the issue is education, which tends to increase income as couples get older. The title of this paper might just as well be: “Lack of Formal Education Most Likely Results in Divorce Sooner.”

[1] Found at: http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2013/article/marriage-and-divorce-patterns-by-gender-race-and-educational-attainment.htm