Ivana Todorovska

5/13/2015
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Teen Marriage

Young people have the tendency to rush through their decisions. More than half of those
consequences lead towards undesirable outcomes. Many teenagers agree to start a new life with
somebody they claim to be in love with. In their world, marriage is looked up as a perfect fantasy
and a dream to terminate their current problems. However, they do not look at the other side that
demonstrates that marriage is not always the solution to their problems. The appropriate age of
marriage varies depending on the persons opinion towards it. In my opinion, marriage should
not be present during the teenage years. Those years are to have more freedom, to gain
responsibility and to have some taste on how it is to be independent. Some reasons on why
young marriage should be prohibited is due to the increase of school drop outs, poverty and
divorces.
The National Dropout Prevention Network is a website that provides facts on how
dropping out of school is still a universal problem. To prove these facts, the website has a table
provided that shows the 6.8% of drop outs due to marriage. They have gathered this data from
seven nationally representative studies. To try to control this situation a little bit more, there
should be state laws that forbid marriage at a young age. The U.S Marriage Laws article
presents the ages in each state. In the United States, all of the states except one require for the
marriage couples to be eighteen. Society disagrees with these laws. They do know that the
teenagers decisions about marriage are always rushed through and do not lead to success.
Higher poverty rates throughout teenagers lifespan is another negative outcome of their
marriages. In fact, the Early Teen Marriage and Future Poverty article provides evidence on
how a woman who marries young has a higher risk of living in poverty than a woman who

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married in her later years. These marriages have started earlier in our history and have carried on
until this day. Historically, the age for marriage approximately revolved around twelve to
fourteen. Instead of ruining our lives, we should all enjoy our times as young adults because we
will never have that opportunity again.
Additionally, divorce rates had risen due to the teen marriages. In the article Teen
Marriage and Divorce, an attorney had stated on how marriages by women below age of 18 are
the most likely group to divorce. According to this article, the divorce rates are very high in this
group of people. After studies being gathered, they have shown how the brains of teenagers are
not fully mature at that age. Making a long-life commitment is something they dont realize
needs more thinking. Referring to the study of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
website, forty eight percent of those who marry before eighteen are more likely to get divorced
within ten years.
On the bright side, the median age for marriage had increased a little bit more in America
over the past few years. However, this doesnt mean that teen marriage has stopped. In fact, it is
still on the risk of rising up even more. A teenagers perspective towards this topic is very
different than an adults perspective. To help teenagers understand the consequences of marriage
at young age, parents should show some additional effort. Having conversations and leading their
children on the right path would be the appropriate choice. Every upcoming generation will have
a different opinion about their lifestyle decisions. Helping them realize what the journey is to the
successful path will prevent the divorces, drop outs and poverty.

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Works Cited Page

DAHL, GORDON B. "Early Teen Marriage and Future Poverty." Demography. Population
Association of America, n.d. Web. 13 May 2015.
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3000061/>
"Love, Marriage and Relationships: A Teen Perspective - HowStuffWorks."HowStuffWorks.
N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2015.
<http://health.howstuffworks.com/relationships/marriage/love-marriage-and-relationships-ateen-perspective.htm>
"Teen Marriage and Divorce." Divorce360.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2015.
<http://www.divorce360.com/divorce-articles/causes-of-divorce/general/teen-marriage-anddivorce.aspx?artid=1343>
"Teen Marriage License Laws, Minors Requirements, by State." Teen Marriage License Laws,
Minors Requirements, by State. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2015.
<http://www.usmarriagelaws.com/search/united_states/teen_marriage_laws/>
"Teenage Marriage On The Rise." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, n.d. Web. 13 May 2015.
<http://www.cbsnews.com/news/teenage-marriage-on-the-rise/>
"Why Students Drop Out." Why Students Drop Out. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2015.
<http://www.dropoutprevention.org/statistics/quick-facts/why-students-drop-out>