What is the ideal age for marriage?

I am going to go ahead and warn you that this post might get a little long. That being said, I do hope that you will read it and post your comments below! I would love to hear your opinions on this growing controversy.

As most of you know, I just recently got married on June 14, 2008! What a wonderful 5 months (this Saturday) it has been! I am so blessed to be married to Josh Robinson – my best friend, my spiritual encourager, my lov-ah. That being said, I will be honest and say that I have gotten quite a few awkward comments when people hear that I am married and – gasp! - only 21 years old. Mostly from those that are quite a few years older…and still single.

I just finished reading an article discussing what the “ideal” age for first time (and hopefully last time) marriages might be. The article stated that the age of first-time marriages have changed drastically over the past decades. They took a poll and found that people do have strong opinions about it, and those beliefs are clearly changing.

“In a 1946 Gallup Poll, most found the ideal age to be 25 for men and 21 for women. Sixty years later, in a Gallup telephone poll of about 500 adults, the ideal age had increased to 25 for women and 27 for men. They discussed a few positives and negatives about marrying sooner vs later in life.”

Listed below are some of the arguments taken from the article on the positives and negatives of marrying sooner (mid-20s and earlier) or later (late-20s and older).

Sooner - positives:

• A study drafted by sociologist Norval Glenn finds that those who marry in the early to mid-20s are slightly happier and less likely to break up than those who marry in the later 20s.
• A study showed that those who marry in the early to mid-20s are significantly more satisfied with their relationships than those who marry at 30 or older.
• Those who advocate marriage in the early to mid-20s say that’s the age when the pool of possible mates is larger, it’s when couples can “grow up” together and it’s prime for childbearing.

Sooner – negatives:

• Those who marry before age 20 are two to three times more likely to divorce.
• Some believe that a year or two after college is the time to learn about yourself personally, as well as in the working environment, and this is needed before getting married.
• A survey was give to 788, 18-25 year old university students – and 60% of men and 67% of women said that they were NOT ready to be married.

Later – positives:

• Those who favor the late 20s or early 30s, say that maturity makes for happier unions and greater economic security — both of which make divorce less likely.
• Research by sociologist Paul Amato, found that older marriages (30s vs. 20s) were more cohesive in the sense they did things more often together as a couple and couples who married at older ages were less likely to report thinking about divorce or that their marriage was in trouble.
• One opinion was that, “You get to experience life and know yourself better, and hopefully choose someone more compatible once you become your own person as an adult.”
• People are more concerned with their own self-development than they used to be,” Cherlin says. “People are postponing marriage until everything in their lives is working in order. The order means after you’ve finished your education, perhaps after beginning your career, and increasingly after you’ve lived with your partner. They’re postponing marriage until they think they’re ready for it.”
• Researchers say divorce rates are down for the better-educated. Those with college degrees marry later, have better jobs and more income.

Later – negatives:

• Marriage used to be the first step into adulthood, but now it is often the last, which Cherlin says has some implications: A lower proportion of today’s young adults will ever marry (though most still will), and they likely will have fewer children.
• Research says women should start having children no later than age 30 and be done by 35, when statistics show fertility declines.
• Van Epp urges parents to change the “wait-to-marry” message. He’s particularly worried that medical advances in treating infertility are giving couples the wrong idea. “It gives people confidence — almost invincibility — that we can delay these things and science will rescue us,” he says.

As you can probably tell, the results from this article are a bit lopsidded. But, are they on to something? Is waiting until you have a degree and are settled in to your career a better equation for marriage? Or is growing up together and childbearing a good reason to get married young? Is there a biblical definiton of when to get married?

What are your thoughts?