Teenage Marriage Drops In Frequency, But Rises In Divorce Rates

In light of the announcement that Sarah Palin's 17-year-old daughter Bristol is pregnant and intends to marry her 18-year-old boyfriend Levi Johnston, the New York Times has taken a look at the declining popularity (and success) of teenage marriage.

The median marrying age for women in the late 1950s was about 19, according to David Popenoe, co-director of the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University and an emeritus professor of sociology there. But a marriage between 19-year-olds -- or even 17- or 18-year-olds -- then would not have been described as a "teenage marriage," he said. It was too routine to be given a special label.

....Studies show that today teenage marriages are two to three times more likely to end in divorce than are marriages between people 25 years of age and older. The most comprehensive study on marriage and age that sociologists cite was published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2001, from 1995 data, and it found that 48 percent of those who marry before 18 are likely to divorce within 10 years, compared with 24 percent of those who marry after age 25.

Keep reading.

See a slideshow of the nearly overnight transformation of Levi Johnston from self-described "redneck" to clean-cut expectant father and fiancé.

Comments

[Chicagowill]

There may also be another reason teens choose not to marry. Health Insurance. As long as the couple does not marry, they can be carried on their parents health insurance, usually until each person hits age 23, assuming they are students. If they marry, often they cannot stay on their parents' health insurance. If the woman is pregnant, having the parents pick up the maternity expenses provides a very compelling reason for them not to marry.

Sorry, it may not be lack of morality, just lack of money.

I wonder whether the State of Alaska's health insurance plan will allow Bristol to stay on her mom's insurance after she marries.

[Konnie]

can you say OPTIONS?

can you even spell the word SHAME?, as in there isn't any...........

how about woman's lib from 30 years ago

add into that mix a general change of expectation of both a girl for herself,
that of her parents, and society in general.

then i would add - we no longer need to settle for anything: the man, the life,
the future....................

.