It’s Worth to Wait
...et married, they might want to think it twice because of the negative consequences that can cause to them in the future. Hau 2 Why do you want to get married so early? That’s probably the most asked question toward teenagers that want to tie the knot at a young age. A few reasons why teens get married are because the girl is pregnant, they want to get out of their parent’s house, they’re afraid of losing each other, or maybe they just feel that their love is so strong that they are ready to take the big step. For teens, once they get into a romantic relationship, which can begin very quickly, they are totally not aware of what could happen to them such as dropping out of the school, getting pregnant, getting married, etc. They think they will last forever, but they rarely do. Studies have shown that early marriages are the most unstable. According to a statistic taken in 1997 by the CDC Vital and Health, about one-half of the teen marriages (among women aged 18-19) will end in divorce within fifteen years, compared to about one-third of marriages for women over twenty (7). Also, according to Sawhill, more than 60 percent of teenage marriages fail within five years (5). The fact is that most teen marriages cannot last longer than people who marry at the age of 25 or older. Eleanor H. Ayer’s writes in her book, Teen Marriage, that: “A girl married at 17 is twice as likely to be divorces as a girl 18 or 19, if a girl waits until she is 25 the chances that her marriage will last are four times better” (4). In my opinion, if you are truly in love, that love will still be there waiting when you are ready and mature enough to deal with the problems and issues of marriage. Another problem with teen marriages is, when teenagers fall in love with someone, they are so confident in getting married that they don’t even take into Hau 3 consideration the money as an obstacle. Money is a huge issue with couples, whether married or living together. Most of the time, teens think that paying bills is not a big deal; but are they willing to sacrifice things when money is short? Until they have the chance to support themselves, to learn just how difficult it is to pay all the bills that it takes to survive in this world, they won’t understand why people wait to get married when they are older and prepared. For example, my aunt Carmen relied on loans and credit cards to pay for the basic necessities to survive. Eventually, she and her ex-husband were in debt and filed for bankruptcy. A few months later, she filed for divorce. Many young people drop out of school once ...