Does Marrying Young Increase Odds Of Divorce?

Does marrying young increase a couple's odds of divorce?

Everyone's unique, but statistics from the National Center for Health Statistics tell us that 60 percent of couples who marry between the ages of 20 and 25 will end up divorced (compared to the 50 percent rate overall), the Chicago Tribune reported.

That doesn't necessarily mean that divorce attorneys in Chicago have a higher percentage of young clients, just that getting married in your early twenties may be rushing things.

Obviously the big question is "why?" Elaine Spencer-Carver, a social work professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, said that while younger couples may have the all-important biological chemistry, they may lack emotional maturity and have limited life experiences.

Licensed marital therapist Peg Donley said young couples tend to be a little too idealistic about the union:

"Younger people are more apt to go into marriage with the expectation that the other person is going to fulfill them. Older people are probably a little more seasoned, more realistic."

Elaine Spencer-Carver also noted that young couples usually lack the benefit of having spent substantial amounts of time together prior to a marriage. People who wait a few years, she said, are able to draw upon positive memories to smooth over the rough spots in any long-term relationship.

But even science suggests that young people who are in love don't have brains that are developed enough to make the right decisions. Peg Donley said women's brains are not fully developed until the age of 25 and that men's brains aren't fully finished until sometime between 25 and 30 years of age.

And those endorphins that make you happy when you're around your special someone? They only last for about three years after marriage. Couples who rely on romance to keep things together after the endorphins wear off often are disappointed, she added.

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